Mysteries from the 116 year old tool box. #1: Timber Framing Tools

Last fall I received a call from my father inquiring if I wanted my great-grandfather’s tool box; all he knew about it was that it was extremely heavy, locked, and had been sitting in the corner as long as he could remember. Jumping at the chance to own a piece of family history I told him I would take it and a few weeks later it arrived to my garage via cargo trailer. Escorted by my father and uncle we managed to unload and extremely heavy trunk that seemed to weigh in the hundreds of pounds. I had waited weeks to find out what was inside, and was handed a skeleton key to the trunk, opening the lid was like stepping back in time! The box was full of every type of hand tool imaginable, hand planes, wood folding rulers, hammers, wrenches, bits, you name it and it was there.

About this same time my wife and I were expecting our first child and unfortunately the box had to be put aside for the time being. It wasn’t until recently that I was able to make it back to the tool box to begin to try to understand not only the tools, but have also uncovered many family mysteries along the way. It only seemed fitting to share this 116 year old tool box and its many mysteries with my fellow woodworkers. I’ve created a weekly web series to showcase the tools and mysteries, and will post weekly updates here as well.

The weekly YouTube plist of all videos so far: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFIeTdks4uWbN0Zfi6YM-TivYtGegsC6u

This weeks video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3UdvW6JMCA