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Home Made Tools

One aspect of this addiction which has huge appeal to me is the DIY angle, making homemade music on homemade instruments. Taking it a step further, I have seen many homemade tools which help form the instruments: sawing jigs, angled fret files, etc.

Here is a pic of two homemade hand tools I enjoy using.

The awl was made by my father, probably when he was in high school. A nail is embedded in a handle which itself might be homemade. Tightly wrapped copper wire helps keep the thing together.

The rasp was made by my wife's grandfather. I've not seen one like it. It consists of several hack saw blades riveted together with various washers alternating the angles. It does an amazing job.

There is a tremendous feeling of connection with previous generations gained from using these. I am fortunate to also have several old store-bought hand tools which belonged to my father. He is gone now, but I think of him often as I use his tools.

Please post your pix of any homemade tools in your arsenal. I would enjoy seeing them.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on February 19, 2016 at 10:35am

The rasp is an amazing idea. I wish I had thought of it. Guess I'll be pulling out all the too long or too short blades and give it a try.

I'll try to shoot some photos of tools I've built for CBG work and post them.

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Permalink Reply by Bufo Bill on February 19, 2016 at 10:44am

You are very lucky to have tools that can be traced back to previous generations of your family. I love old tools an often skulk about in dusty antiques stores looking for tools and the like. I have never seen a rasp quite like your wife's gramps; this is the perfect example of mans ingenuity being brought to bare on a task with limited resources. In my part of the world we would describe that rasp as "a bit of braddish', something made of the parts better off folks would have trashed long before, and the rasp has the charm of the CBG offerings we see here every day.
All the best from Bill. :D

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Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on February 20, 2016 at 10:27am

Those are cool and you are lucky to have them and their history!

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Permalink Reply by Greg Thompson on February 23, 2016 at 12:34pm

What a great story.
Love the rasp!
Thanks for sharing!!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 23, 2016 at 9:27pm

Necessity is the Mother of invention, but also a lack of funds or materials. People that were around during the Great Depression and rationing during WW2 had to use their brains and the materials at hand to make what they needed.

Haven't seen a homemade rasp like that. My dad made some cutting blades out of feeler gauges once. He placed them between 2 Popsicle sticks that had small screws going through them with a nut to keep it tight.

I was cleaning out His shed after He passed(born in 1932) I found several Cigar Boxes, coffee cans and butter tubs full of old tools, screws, bolts and just about everything else you could think of. And My wife though I never threw anything away!