Tool Museums

I stumbled across the above in a 1987 newsletter I found with some other stuff.  I was excited to discover a local tool museum I had somehow overlooked in my travels.  A google search revealed very little.  I've since had some correspondence with the conservation authority folks who tell me that, unfortunately, the museum was seldom visited and in 2011 the log building was taken apart and moved to the Foley Mountain Conservation Area where it's used as an outside education learning centre. Many of the woodworking tools had been donated by the owners of the Muttarts Building supplies company some decades ago. While some of the tools continue to be displayed at other sites, most have been stored away.

This seems to be the fate of a lot of these tool museums, many of which are privately operated.  (If you google "Tool museum" you'd be surprised at what you turn up.)  The younger generation just isn't interested in these things any more, at least in part because they haven't grown up learning how to use them.  

Under new management

British ground crew paint British roundels on a captured German Stuka

Sidecar Sunday

Flickr: http://flic.kr/p/bxxGzD

Harley Davidson Model R Flathead (HZ-7200), The Hague police and fire department ,1938

Perceptions of Risk

There's a huge disconnect between what most people think are risky activities, and activities which are actually (and actuarially) determined to be dangerous.  For example, many people believe that air travel is dangerous, but the stats indicate that you're much more likely to be injured or killed in a car accident.  Below, from a fascinating article, Perceptions of Risk, published in 1982 in Horizons magazine.  

Koupet Auto Top

Narrow gauge vs broad gauge

I think I found this in a 1920s era Railway Age magazine so it refers to the time in the 19th century when men were busy covering the continent with rail lines. The expense of building them was obviously very high, and the proponents of narrow gauge, with its lighter rail and smaller equipment were trying hard to convince everyone it was a better choice. These days, seeing modern giant freight trains, maybe an even wider than standard gauge would have been a better idea.

Great Sailing Shots; NY 1-2-3

The Art of the Boat, Photographs from the Rosenfeld Collection, Mystic Seaport Museum 2005

                  Photo by Morris Rosenfield & Sons 1913

What'sits In Canada

This was identified as a washer cutter made by the Goodell Pratt Company.  As sketched, it is missing two fly cutters which camps on the arms and a centering pin.

This came out of a 1995 publication of the same name by The Tool Group of Canada. Members brought in unusual tools to see if anyone else could identify them.

The organization is still around and they have regular meetings in the Toronto area. Visit if you're a tool nut, visit their website.

Avro projects

Larry Milberry, Aviation in Canada, McGraw-Hill Ryerson 1979

A view of the Avro premises, probably in l949 -1951 timeframe, Lots to look at, lots of projects; a number of CF100s in various states, a disassembled F-86 Sabre, at least one Lancaster and the prototype CF102 Jetliner in the background. As the Jetliner project was cancelled in 1951 to help the company focus on the CF100 project, this picture was probably taken before then. The Jetliner narrowly missed being the first jet powered airliner, the de Havilland Comet beat it by a couple of weeks.
 Unfortunately the Jetliner was scrapped in 1956, with only the cockpit area sawed off and saved, now in the reserve hangar at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. The other airplane front section in the background belonged to a de Havilland Comet.

X-rays are our friend...