If you like a practical collection, antique tools have nostalgic charm

Press, 14 January 1986, Page 19

If you like a practical collection, antique tools have nostalgic charm

The smell of the heating glue pot in my nostrils, tools arranged on the wall above the bench, the presence of shavings and freshly planed wood were all reminiscent of an atmosphere I remember well from childhood visits to my father’s cabinet-making workshop.

There was another attraction at John Hanson’s furniture restoring establishment in Riccarton Road — a magnificent collection of old tools dating from the early eighteenth century. John came to New Zealand in 1972. He had served an apprenticeship with a London firm, Church Lane Restorations, and gained further experience working for Malletts, of Bond Street, and the National Trust.

No doubt, like every craftsman, he began to collect his own tools during apprenticeship. His enthusiasm, particularly for old, well-used pieces, has resulted in a comprehensive collection, certaining unusual and perhaps in New Zealand, even unique. Anyone with an interest in the past and a feeling for craftsmanship could happily spend hours handling and gloating over these tools, but they are not just to be looked at.

Many are in daily use, and other highly specialised pieces are put to good use when some tricky piece of restoration is called for.

The illustration shows John Hanson at his bench using a wooden jack plane made in 1780. This tool was specially designed for use on long pieces of wood required to be joined together.

Collecting with Myrtle Duff

Used with skill, it ensures a continuously smooth surface with no visible sign of a join.

The variety seemed endless. There was a piercing saw to make marquetry patterns; a large carver’s mallet dating from 1780; a drill operated by pushing down a handle from the top — forerunner of today’s electric drill, made in 1680; a bow-saw; squares in ebony and brass, rosewood and brass and a device with tapering sides used for squeezing together two pieces of wood. One metal rasp had such an attractive shape it would have been well worth collecting just to look at.

Other pieces with this sort of appeal for me were the delightful little boxwood spoke-shaves, their simply shaped handles coloured and polished only by the skilled hands which have used them through the

years. The oldest piece in the collection was a “Scratch Tool” dating from the 12th century. This must be a direct descendant of one of man’s earliest tools, the stone adze. It is used as a scraper.

Some old tools are worth collecting if only for the originality of the names commonly used for them in the workshop. They include an Old Lady — a stand used for supporting something being worked on at the bench and Granny’s Tooth, a grooving tool generally used on stairs.

This one had a beech handle and had at one time been owned by A. Malcolm, of Otakia.

Really ancient furniture is available today only in

some of the world’s greatest museums. It consisted of beds, chairs, stools and boxes made simply from natural wood, though’ veneering was practised in Rome and Egypt. Following a period of very primitive living, with little household furniture in the early Middle Ages, there was a revival of furniture making in the fifteenth century with many new types of cupboards and compartmented boxes.

Following this, the reintroduction of veneering produced a major revival of the craft. Many of the more sophisticated tools collected now evolved from this. There is a tendency now to apply the word “veneer” to glued together, ply-wood types of material generally

regarded as inferior when used for furniture.

True veneer is not merely stuck on to its base. A specially designed plane with a serrated blade is used on the boards to be joined, producing finely grooved surfaces which lock together. There were many of these grooving planes in this collection.

The variety of specialised tools necessary for just the cabinet-making branch of the furniture industry is astonishing. There is a special plane for the piece that goes around the top of each drawer. It was invented in 1710 for the protection of the edge of the veneered surface of the drawer.

Another rather rough looking implement was used

in the first step of the process of producing turned table legs. The legs were cut out square, and later sent to the turner.

Just before tearing myself away from this fascinating collection I noticed another of more recent origin but of definite interest to many owners of antique furniture. This was a selection of reproduction brass handles, escutcheons, and castors recently imported from England. They are faithful copies of originals from furniture made from 1600 to 1880. They are available in sets, or singles, if you are fortunate enough to find a piece which exactly matches those on a favourite piece of furniture from which one is missing.