February 2025 newsletter part two

4. Our HBC lottery grants continues to grow. With the sixteen tickets held by members we have managed to gain £150:00 for WMS funds so far. The more tickets we hold the greater the WMS grant pot grows so if you have a spare couple of quid each week please sign up and gain a chance to win your own £25:00 prize and help us with our fundraising. You have to be in to win.

5. The History in your tool box:- (1) The Carpenters Chest

The travelling carpenter or journeyman usually had an annual route around the country visiting towns and villages to carry out odd carpentry jobs for a fee before moving on to the next village or town. He would transport his tools in a chest on wheels. The boxes quite often signified the carpenters ability and skills, not only with the range of tools he had, but the wood the chest was made out of. A carpenter of repute would probably have had a maghogany or oak chest with pine interior, but it could be made out of any wood usually locally grown. Even the construction was an advertisement. If the joints were dovetailed or mortise and tennon rather than nailed then again it showed the carpenters skills. The tool box on the right shows the shipwrights tools, essential to maintain the integrity of a ship. This is an example of one held on HMS Victory.

For a farrier, much of his work was away from the forge, meaning he had to take his tools to the stable. He would have carried a portable tool kit, including a tripod to support the horse’s leg. The photo on the left shows a ‘tool box’ of a farrier of the Tudor ages. Today, these chests have become much sought after items and are often repurposed as sewing boxes or log stores by a log burner in a room now. Today, in our workshops, toolboxes still remain an essential element of our tool organisation but now made of modern materials. Though sometimes in my workshop it is not always that evident!

March edition: (2) The axe, adze and hatchet.

February diary of events dates:-

WMS Committee Meeting 1030 7th February 2025

WMS Monthly BBQ 1200 7th February 2025