July 14, 2008

Am a tool collector from the Pacific Northwest and a member of (PNTC) Pacific Northwest Tool Collectors. One of my areas of focus is Shipwright tools. In the Pacific Northwest we enjoyed a rich heritage of shipbuilding associated with our lumbering and logging industry. In many of the small communities in Washington, British Columbia, and Oregon construction of wooden sailing vessels was an intergral part of the local industry. One of the ways I enjoy giving back something to the fun of collecting is to provide shipwright tools to some of the new shipwrights who are currently working in that trade. In Seattle, Vancouver and a couple of areas in Oregon, the local community colleges and trade schools host a shipwright program. In the greater Seattle area we usually see 5 or 6 of these young fellows at each of our gatherings. Many of us who collect tools try to supply them with user tools such as mallets, edge tools, slicks, planes, caulking irons, literature, clamps, and even sources for materials. We usually try to do this at our or near our cost inorder to support this important craft.

Many times mallets become available which are missing either the end or middle rings. Since these are tapered both inside and out they are somewhat complex to get remanufactured to match the existing for reasonable costs. One of the things I've discovered, totally by accident, when I was having some work done on one of my vehicles is that places of business that fabricate exhaust systems employ a hydraulic piece of equipment which is easily capable of sizing and tapering a ring to exactly the correct size. Sometimes one can use the steel pipe they use in other cases, especially with Drew Mallets, one can obtain high strength tubular steel which the exhaust folks can still size on their equipment. So just wanted to pass this along to you, and let you know how much we folks who also enjoy C. Drew items appreciate your research and knowledge.