The Tools of the Trade

I went around Liverpool Cathedral on Monday and whilst the whole experience was a bit disappointing – as it is every time I visit – I did enjoy the displays of tools.


Scattered around the Cathedral are a number of display cases showing the tools that were used in some of the stone masonry and carpentry work.


The tools in this case were used by John Rowbottom, stonemason, on this site from 1932 to 1981 and were given to the Cathedral by his widow.


One or two of the tools are masterpieces in themselves – like this Sharples Frame Brace.


Many of the tools were familiar to me since their like was once to be found in Dad’s shed. Some, like the plumber’s hand brace, dividers, shave hook and mallet headed chisels have even found their way into my shed and are used occasionally.


I used to love watching Dad use his paraffin blowlamp and I can still remember vividly the wonderful smell of the glue pot on the stove.


Less familiar were the names Mandrel, Trammel, Bossing Stick, Pitcher, Turn Pins, Lead Dummy, Shift Stock, Jumper, Drags and Bolster. Whatever their purposes it was delightful to see them in the building where they had been used.

Artibus, legibus, consiliis

 

I have been going through some of my old photographic slides lately and scanning in a few. I have many, many thousands and I just don’t know what to do with them all. I suspect that after I’ve got tired of scanning I’ll just lump them all back in the loft again.


In the meantime I came across a couple which show the side of St George’s Hall in Liverpool. One of the more useless pieces of information I came across many years ago was that the A of Artibus in the inscription had been incised the wrong way round. The deep incision should have been on the right hand side as it is with the letter u (v). I wonder what happened to the poor stonemason who buggered that up!