Ward / Sorby Gloat...sort of

[shane lyall]

Not so much a gloat but I bought these on ebay. They are a Robert Sorby and a couple of Ward's. I don't know the value for sure but I thought they were cool. The big deal to me, and I found out after the fact, was the history.

This is a CC&P from the e-mail he sent after I receved the chisels and had contacted him about a shipping issue.

"These tools came from a friend of mine, Mr. Stephen Misir, who recently passed away at age 87. In his day, Steve was one of the best carvers in the country and had well over 1000 carving tools. He as done work for Frank Sinatra and many other famous folks. He apprenticed under Gutzon Borglum, who did Mount Rushmore. Primarily, he did 18th Century reproductions but also did carving and sculpture in the round. He was quite a guy."

I don't know the names but it's kind of cool knowing where these have been. Did one of these do some work for Sinatra? Nobody can say for sure. I've been a power tool guy for years but I think I'm getting into this neander stuff. It all started with a shoulder plane to fine tune tenons and has sort of snowballed much to LOML's displeasure!
chisels.jpg

[Joshua Byrd]

That is certainly way cool to know. Ever since I hopped on the Neandersled and shoved off downhill, I've been pondering how to go about documenting each tool that I acquire and its history. I know that I'll forget important stuff one day, and I'm sure my son (or perhaps his grandchildren waaaaay down the line :P) will be interested in knowing all he can know about the craftsmen or collectors that came before.

[Michael Ray Smith]

The connection with the past is one of the great things about working with handtools.

[Dave Lehnert]

WOW! that's a cool story.

I have a coffin hand plane I picked up at an antique store. It has a name carved in the side of it. I would love to know the history of that plane. I also got an old saw vice that a lady was selling. Her father passed and was selling all his things. i know he was a carpenter back in the day but I think I made her kinda nervous asking about him so I did not press any farther.
I think it would be cool if there was a tool registry on the net. A place where we could enter in a serial number or marking on the tool and give a history of the tool for future generations. A new owner could go to the registry 100 years from now and see who owned it, for how long, priced paid, purchased from etc...