Old Tools

Everything old has a story to tell. The story doesn't have to be book worthy to be meaningful or interesting. Old tools are an example of that. Yesterday Dad gave me a bucket full of old hand tools that used to belong to his Dad, who passed away when Dad was just 11. One of the items in it was a bone saw, which looks a lot like a hacksaw. If Dad hadn't told me what it was I probably wouldn't have known. I asked if his Dad had worked in a meat processing plant at some point in his life and he said no; the saw was just for their personal use. Interesting when you consider that 75 years ago regular folks had a use for a bone saw. Not too many folks around these parts butcher their own cows and pigs these days. Most of us leave that up to the guys that handle the meat way before it arrives at Sam's Club or the neighborhood Piggly Wiggly.

There's a chance that after having sat dormant for nearly 70 years, my Grandad's old saw might get put to use next year on a deer or maybe even an elk if one wonders by (according to Bear Claw Chris Lapp of Jeremiah Johnson fame, "An elk don't know how many feet a horse have, stupid!"). We don't have any elk in these parts but maybe our good friend "Cole County Tom Jones" will import one onto his Missouri river-bottom property. If he does, one of Tom's friends will likely shoot it or run over it with a truck: enter the bone saw.

On the subject of handing down old tools, my Gransfors Bruks splitting mall might end up in a story some day after I'm long gone. I've split quite a bit of wood with it so far and hope to split a lot more before I'm too worn out to swing it. Maybe some day one of my grandkids will be writing a short story about it, telling how their old Papa used to use it to split firewood, way back when regular folks used to split their own firewood.
On that thought, I'll keep you posted....