Monday, November 14, 2011

Punches, Pliers And Calipers


I would like to say that this is a picture of my workshop, but it isn't. It could have been a picture of the bench my father had at the back of his garage, or a picture of my brothers' eclectic studio and workshop in Dominica : but it isn't. It is a picture I took last week at the Shibden Hall Museum in Halifax. Behind the main Elizabethan house there is a collection of small craft cottages. This one was full of a diverse collection of punches, pliers and calipers : a delight to behold but, as far as their use is concerned, beyond my comprehension.

22 comments:

  1. I'd comment, but I'm a bit hoarse myself.

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  2. In keeping with the tone Chairman Bill has set, this is a horse of a different color.

    Love these kinds of photos, though. Hopefully, it's not a Little Shop of Horrors.

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  3. A little bit of social history; traditional skills that are probably now in short supply.

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  4. The horses have it; this definitely looks like a tack shop. I did a good bit of leather work in my hippy past, and I recognize the tools of the trade.

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  5. It makes for a great shot. Sometimes the older tools can be a puzzlement into their actual use.

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  6. Love old shops- the tools fascinate me.

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  7. I love the table itself, with all its notches and grooves.

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  8. All that wood and leather - lovely!

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  9. Our old barns are filled with such things. My FIL was an avid lover of horses.

    It made for a lovely photo and a wonderful read. :o)

    God bless and have a fantastic week!!!

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  10. What a busy picture! Fascinating. I'd love to handle all of those tools and imagine the uses they have been put to; the hands of all the skilled craftsmen plying their trades.

    Funnily enough, as soon as I saw it, I made the connection with your brother!

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  11. What a busy picture! Fascinating. I'd love to handle all of those tools and imagine the uses they have been put to; the hands of all the skilled craftsmen plying their trades.

    Funnily enough, as soon as I saw it, I made the connection with your brother!

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  12. There something so endearing about old well-used hand tools. Your dad sounds a bit like mine - whatever you had a need for, he had stashed away somewhere in his garage-cum-workshop. Mostly in old rusty tins that once contained National Dried Milk..

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  13. A Very Good Photo Alan! Even though it wasn't your work bench, the photo is yours to treasure!

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  14. Blimey I was wondering about a Chippendale chair in the workshop! But actually it's a bit too artful to be a real one, where are the old WD40 cans? :)

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  15. Ah! That brings back memories! Great place for sledging, Shibden Park (talking snow here, not cricket). And for rowing, and for riding on miniature trains...

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  16. Lovely work area..a real delight back in the day...I saw horse stuff too:)

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  17. Call me crazy, I know, but I really have fun in these kinds of places, and learning about stuff that I had no idea ....is the table or that chair (especially)for sale by chance?! Just kidding, but what beautiful items all of them, thanks for sharing it!

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  18. The tools of another age are extremely interesting. They had very primitive methods to make these tools. Every tool was an individual product.

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  19. Jenny beat me to it. A great photo, but a little too tidy to be a real workbench, I think.

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  20. what a comforting sight....great photo!

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  21. Seriously? Your father built my grandmothers chairs AND my sisters display cabinets?

    :)

    sorry Alan, I couldn't resist, nearly everything I see seems to always look familiar. It'd be spooky to you too if I could show you pictures of the first things seen first, and how eerily they resemble as if were twins to the second sighting

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