Thursday, February 2, 2012

Wonderful video about antique tools and a company that still sells them

My father, an aeronautics engineer by profession and a tinkerer by hobby, passed on his love of old tools to me since the time I could hold a screwdriver. When I found this video on line, I was overwhelmed with emotion as I remembered many Saturday afternoons fixing any one of my father's vintage cars, or boats along side him. The video is so clear that I can almost smell the grease and the metal. Working with my hands today, I am ever grateful for the skills that my father taught me, and I never take for granted the resourcefulness of the Yankee spirit. Whenever I can I utilize some of my old tools, including a sixteen inch jointer that I bought from a retired shipwright in Mystic Connecticut. The machine weighs over seven hundred pounds and after 125 years it still runs smoothly.