TOOLS TERRY PEED | CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
I was doing a little toolbox organizing the other day and I got to thinking about all of the tools I have owned in my career. When I was a kid, my grandpa used to repair old lawn mowers and each one of his grandsons received one when grandpa felt we were old enough and responsible enough to have one. Actually, I think we got a mower so we could mow his massive yard for him. Anyways, he would teach us how to maintain the mower so we could mow peoples’ lawns and earn money. He gave us a small gas can and a few basic tools in a small toolbox. Grandpa had hundreds of tools, and when he was putting a toolbox together for one of us boys, he would tell us a story about each one of the tools he gave us. Grandpa was a heck of a storyteller and to this day, I don’t know how many of his stories were true, but we would listen and learn. The tools weren’t new or fancy, but they were precious to us. Grandpa was a retired carpenter and he told us that when he was young, his dad gave him a hammer, a saw and a fold up ruler and sent him into town to get a job. He told us if you had those tools, you could get a job at any construction site. They were the basic tools of his trade. It got me to thinking about the basic tools of our
trade. Who invented them, and what motivated their development? I thought it would be fun to explore some of the history of the tools we use every day. It is not my intention to promote one brand over another, because I believe that each mechanic’s toolbox is a creation of his or her skill level, thought process and
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HelicopterMaintenanceMagazine.com April | May 2020
total mass of their wallet. I’ve met master mechanics with a cheap set of tools, and I’ve met “wannabes” with top of the line equipment. An expensive toolbox doesn’t make you a mechanic if you don’t know how or when to use them, but I will admit that using some of the better-quality tools can result in a better-quality job. The key here is that mechanics acquire the tools that we need to perform the daily tasks that confront us. I’m reminded of a TV documentary I once saw that showed a chimpanzee using a narrow stick or reed to poke down into a log that was infested with termites. The termites would climb onto the stick and the chimpanzee would pull it out and eat them. This termite-extraction tool was probably invented out of necessity by a primate even before man invented the fork or spoon. They say, “Necessity is the mother of all invention.” I believe it — I’ve put together some crazy contraptions in my days to get a job done. I’m sure you all have too. Ok, let’s get into the history of some of the tools in our toolboxes.
THE GRANDDADDY OF ALL TOOLS —
THE HAMMER Mans’ first tool was nothing more than a rock. It was a heavy, elliptical stone that was smoothly formed by a river or the sea. Archaeologists have recently discovered the first appearance of this tool that was used as a hammer 3.3 million years ago. This crude “hammer”
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