George Langford writes :

>I don't understand OldTools' aversion to the wire wheel.  If
>used carefully, all it does is remove the red rust, leaving
>the blue/black magnetite (the hard stuff) underneath to form
>that magical "old tool" patina.

I've noticed that no one is answering this kind of statement
anymore.

You may not get an answer, these days, but you would have
started a long and very interesting discussion had you asked
it two years ago.  I find it a shame that the subject has
become taboo, there are surely more people on the porch now
that haven't discussed the matter than those that have.

I started out being the type of person that felt that a
tool, regardless of it's age, was something that required
keeping in pristine shape, and if one that I acquired wasn't
in such shape, it was my duty to make it so.  I figured
that had :I: owned the tool the last hundred years I would
have continuously maintained it and it would look today
as new as the day I bought it.  So it was natural for me
to want to make an old tool look like I'd been the owner
all that time and make it new again.

Part of it was also that I didn't want someone else to come
along and think that it was :me: who had been neglecting the
tool (I grew up under heavy criticism and ridicule so what
others think has been a pretty important thing in my life,
at least until very recently).

This point of view is based strictly on mechanical engineering
type reasons and does not touch anything like history,
aesthetics or feelings.  Rust is bad so rust goes.  Period.
So I polished the brass, reground the machined surfaces,
stripped the crackled varnish and refinished the wood.

Trouble was, when I put the tool on a shelf with a bunch of
other old tools, this one didn't look old anymore.  It didn't
look new either.  It looked :gawdy: .

This, to me, has become :the: reason for leaving an old tool
the way it is.  I have found that it is impossible to make
an old tool look new.  You end up with clean surfaces with
dirty dents, rounded over corners, dull japanning, wood that
looks nothing like it's supposed to, and that awful shiny
brass.

If I look at an un-restored old tool, one that has been given
a bath to at least be presentable, there's something warm about
the tool.  There's a glow to it.  It's mellow.  It's got
everything to do with feeling and nothing to do with mechanics.

There might be some interesting aspects of wear, as well, like
being able to see how and where previous owners put their
hands.  Seeing some long-dead person's hands come alive on a
tool suddenly brings back the long-dead person.  What did this
person do for a living ?  What working conditions did they
labour under ?  Who were they ?  Sometimes there's an owner's
mark and you can refer to the spirit by name.  Everytime I
see the mark on a tool it's like I'm meeting the guy to start
our day's work together. "Good morning Mr E.COLE !" or "Hi there,
S.ROBBINS, how's it goin' today ?".

Now, if I renew a tool (and I still do at times), I kill the
spirit.  It'll be a good tool, a nice tool, but it'll be empty.
Sometimes you don't have a choice, it's either that or throw
it in the garabage.  Hopefully once I pass those on they'll
have accumulated a little bit of :me: and future owners will
be able to resurrect me for a few minutes of galooting together,
every once in a while.

Paul Pedersen
Montreal (Quebec)
http://www.cam.org/~perrons/Paul/Woodwork/woodwork.html