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We all know that there has been a tremendous revival in hand tools. I learned to work with wood in the early 1970s, and the old geezers I worked with would sometimes head for the joiner, and sometimes pick up a plane. They had a sense of which tool was better for any given task. They all used tools they had purchased when they were young, and when I went looking for tools of my own I couldn’t find many new ones that were worth buying. I ended up spending a lot of money ($35.00) at the time for an English shoulder plane, and I borrowed the Stanley No. 4 from my dad, who had borrowed it about 20 years before from his dad. We’re much better off today, but I’ve been wondering lately about why we needed a revival. Why were hand tools all but abandoned in the 1950s and 1960s?
I have some theories, and in search for evidence beyond my own thoughts I decided to take a look at how-to magazines from fifty years ago. The image above is from the February 1951 issue of Popular Mechanics. Google Books has issues available online going back to 1905. I haven’t come to any conclusions yet, but I did come across some interesting ads.
Here’s a fifty-year old image of the ideal power tool shop of the day, complete with knotty-pine paneling and linoleum tile floor. The tools are small in scale, but aren’t too out of line. Other ads however, seem a bit silly. One of the hot items of the day was the portable electric drill, and it seems there was a race to make the drill a universal power source for all manner of tasks.
I’ve never seen an Arco-Saw, but my dad did have an attachment that turned his electric drill into a jig saw. Or so it claimed on the box. I tried to get it to work a time or two as a teenager, but never had much success. Safety was also a concern back then, and here is another item I’ve never seen:
The idea is that the blade has only eight teeth, and they protrude only .020″ from the plate. It features a “wedge cutting action” that eliminates kick back. I’m surprised that no one carried the idea to the next level; a blade with no teeth would eliminate kickback and sawdust as well.
Ads for power tools were far more numerous than those for hand tools, but there were hand tool ads in print, along with numerous gizmos for sharpening and setting hand saws, and golden opportunities to be found in the saw sharpening business.
And there were a few non-woodworking ads that caught my eye.
My older brother had a chemistry set, but I don’t believe that his came equipped with “Safe Atomic Energy”. That’s just as well, since most of his experiments involved pyrotechnics. What really made me want a time machine was this:
$3.75 was a considerable sum in 1951, but I think a jet propelled bicycle would be well worth it.
I didn’t get much closer to answering the question I had, but I did get an interesting look at the culture of the time. If you have any favorite oddball tools from the era, or theories about why hand tools fell out of fashion before making a comeback, tell us about them by leaving a comment below.
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Could the reason be that very few people from a new generation are interested in using the same tools as their parents?
That could also explain why there are more youngsters today are more interested in the Internet and playing videogames than they are at working with tools.
So basically the generation that were fit for using hand tools weren’t that keen on it since they had seen their parents use the same tools for making a living.
Therefore it was the next generation that were able to see past that point and decided that maybe there were some good things about them.
Another reason for the lack of ads could also be that it is easier to make a flashy ad for a new gizmo than for a chisel or an axe. Come to think of it, I don’t think that I have seen an ad for an axe lately..
"Safe with atomic energy" In those days even smoking and drinking could be recommended by your doctor..
"safe with atomic energy"
Robert,
Because at the start of the last century certain elite
minds who feel like they are entitled to tell other
people how the world should run began dreaming about a utopian
future of easy living, novelty, and perpetual amusement.
There is no time or purpose to enjoying the journey; only
an analysis of the most efficient way to get there. Like
Frederic Taylor might want. But it got worse: Taylor was
only interested in the efficiency of physical movement a la
an assembly line. But other more ambitious capitalists
wanted more: a make over of the American mind to love all that
is about the future and shrug off all of those inefficient
thoughts concerning the past.
And so it went. And is. Never mind the devastation this
philosophy left behind. It has been a heavy price to pay.
So that is a quick sketch of the ‘why it went that way’. But
why has it to some extent come back full circle? Because
it doesn’t take a whole lot of time spent in the shop to
understand that the reason you are there is not to make
furniture but to love the process and learn something
about yourself. And those thoughtful lessons tend to be
best received with the most organic and human of
tools: handtools.
Ironically a modern device, the Internet, has served as a
catalyst between woodworkers and tool manufacturers to open
up the hobby on a broader scale. This has linked
these woodworkers to companies like Lee Valley/Veritas, Lie-Nielsen,
the Wenzloff’s, etc. to supply the new demand.
Anyway, it’s just a theory of mine. I could be totally wrong.
Chris
Interesting post Robert. My feeling is that the 2nd ad said it all — Low Cost Quality. Beginning in the 50’s, Americans had a growing amount of disposable income. People began to appreciate instant gratification for a "great" price. With each passing year the relative price went down, as did quality. But, with each passing year peoples expectations of "quality" went down as well.