Woodworkers tool kit 1962-4 style
- Thread starter Sideways
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
BillHoughton
Established Member
Ah. Caught, once again, by the fact that British English resembles American English and yet...isn't. I looked them up. Interesting bags - kind of a neat shape. The American versions of these bags tend to be boxier.
When I were a lad they were called frails.
Bill, A bass is a Hessian toolbag lol!
You can actually still buy them
You can actually still buy them
Bill, Not sure about the American version but what we had here were soft Hessian which laid flat when you put it on the floor.Easy to get at the few tools you put in it.When the job was done just pick it up with the handles and off you go.
Never heard them called frails Phil.
Interesting Phil.Thanks.The ones we had at work were brown with eyelets and Hessian rather than canvas.
Last edited:
I seem to recall that North America refers to hessian as "Burlap".
As was mine.
I still have one of these hessian bags that I used to carry my tools in. All your tools got mashed together unless you protected them individually The only power tool I had on site when I started out, in the 80's, was a drill. How times have changed.
I remember reading the diary of a joiner from the late 18th/ early 19th century. His tool chest complete with contents was carried to each job by cart and left there until the job finished. Mind you those were the days of night watchmen on site. Something I can still remember seeing as a kid growing up in London in the 50's
I remember reading the diary of a joiner from the late 18th/ early 19th century. His tool chest complete with contents was carried to each job by cart and left there until the job finished. Mind you those were the days of night watchmen on site. Something I can still remember seeing as a kid growing up in London in the 50's
My grandfather was a joiner/cabinetmaker. He seems to have worked all over the place judging from his work pocketbooks in which he noted the hours on each job each day over several decades! I've inherited them along two substantial wooden toolchests (lockable!) in which I assume he transported the tools for bigger jobs. He also had a smaller chest like a wooden suitcase in which he could carry a basic toolkit for smaller jobs.
This week 100 years ago was a bit dull by the look of it; he spent the entire week on a job noted as 'Clean up mouldings Pullman Car' - 9 hours every weekday and four on Saturday. By the 14th Feb he's moved on to "Panelling Gas Works". He lived in Suffolk, but clearly travelled widely - a later entry just says 'Feb 20th to March 22nd at Birmingham'. In 2023 he seems to have done a lot of work on the SS Voltaire, and panelling in Harrods also shows up. He also had, perhaps unusually, a passport which he used to travel to the World Trade Fair in Paris.
This week 100 years ago was a bit dull by the look of it; he spent the entire week on a job noted as 'Clean up mouldings Pullman Car' - 9 hours every weekday and four on Saturday. By the 14th Feb he's moved on to "Panelling Gas Works". He lived in Suffolk, but clearly travelled widely - a later entry just says 'Feb 20th to March 22nd at Birmingham'. In 2023 he seems to have done a lot of work on the SS Voltaire, and panelling in Harrods also shows up. He also had, perhaps unusually, a passport which he used to travel to the World Trade Fair in Paris.
Shavingsnotdust,I think you are so lucky to have such detailed records of an ancestor, treasure them.
My father (born 1902) was a carpenter/joiner from the 1930s onwards and I have the barest of information about that time until his death in 1970 (while still working full time). Just my own memory to rely on but, which at 76 is a bit rusty.
My father (born 1902) was a carpenter/joiner from the 1930s onwards and I have the barest of information about that time until his death in 1970 (while still working full time). Just my own memory to rely on but, which at 76 is a bit rusty.
