Why is the center point of the ruler at the 5.5 inch mark and not on the 6" line?
Chet
Contributor
Why is the center point of the ruler at the 5.5 inch mark and not on the 6" line?
Chet
Contributor
Oh, you mean like this:Originally Posted by george wilson
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That makes sense!
Honestly David - I was just pulling your leg. We all know nothing can be improved upon post 1900 when it comes to hand tools. LOL
Guest
It may seem ridiculous for me to say "i'll believe it when i see it" all the time about "improvements", but ...well, I'll believe it when I see it. Most of the people trying to "improve" on tools have no idea what makes the tools they're trying to improve on desirable in the first place.
And the sense that nobody would've knocked off the low hanging fruit when there were hundreds of makers all competing for a pool of professional users who were real penny pinchers (by necessity) is naive to say in the least.
Think about the "improvements" in the tools that we see. They're more finished (for beginners), they can be dropped (for beginners, I guess), they have harder irons (put in context of work, that doesn't amount to much), they have more highly alloyed irons (presumably that's because it's difficult to heat treat the irons that are plain carbon steel and hard - LN couldn't harden an entire water-hardened steel iron), they have catalog flatness specs (for beginners).
And that's the tools that haven't totally gone to crap (planes and chisels) completely across the board.
Contributor
Wow! Look at all I missed by going to bed a little early.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
The traditional system of tool use and making was interrupted by the double barreled disrupter of mechanization and world wars.Most of the people trying to "improve" on tools have no idea what makes the tools they're trying to improve on desirable in the first place.
Young tool makers learned from older tool makers why a hatchet didn't have a hollow face. Young woodworkers likewise learned from the older, more skilled wood workers how to use the tools.
The world moved away from everything being hand built to a 'modern society' were everything was mass produced on an assembly line.
The knowledge of the artisan/craftsman fell to the pencil of the accountants.
Now we have a 'renaissance' of workers and makers. The individual workers are more amenable to change. Some are trying to emulate the practices of old. They are not trying to find 'new and improved' methods. There journey is more focused on how such great work was possible with the limits imposed by a low tech society.
My experience with engineers and manufacturing is they usually only change if it is going to cut costs. They often do not like major design changes for fear of having to face the idea of, "we have been doing it wrong all along."
One example is a well known maker of quality socket chisels. In the 19th an early 20th century the sockets were left rough on the inside. The modern maker has them smooth on the inside. Then to keep them from falling off of the handles, the idea was devised to shoot some hair spray into the socket to hold the handle in place.
On my old chisels there are only a couple that have issues with the handle coming loose. These are both ones with severely damaged sockets before the came into my possession.
In reality we have the ability to make as good or better tools than a century ago. All to often the knowledge permeating the workers of the previous centuries has been lost on the modern manufacturers.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Member
That's exactly right,Pat. Doesn't the hatchet look more correct with the head turned around? Now,go to your link. The hatchet now looks very much like the Husqvarna hatchet with the wooden handle.
Any farmer should know that head was on the wrong way. I grew up in Alaska,sharpening the axes and hatchets of workmen and loggers,among other things.
All these posts about something so simple and so basic. It's just amazing.
[OP]
Contributor
Thanks for confirming my suspicions everyone. If you look closely it almost looks like it had been hung previously and re-installed upside down. The handle has an oddly-shaped shoulder.
Time to look for some hickory...
Member
George, the more I find out about you, the more I think you should be a beer spokesperson. You have got to be the most interesting man in the world.
daniel
Not all chemicals are bad. Without hydrogen or oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.
Member
Stay thirsty my friends. And,will someone get these 3 women off me????
Guest
ROFL!
Greg, odds are you could get that handle out and reuse it.. You'd need to drill/pull the wedge out but then it should be possible to tap it out. If nothing else it would make a decent template
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