Old tools have magic, too

What do a two-handed hay knife, a pickle fork and a hand corn planter have in common? These days the items are more likely to end up hanging on a wall as part of a home’s interior design than be used for the job in which they were intended.

“People like old stuff, things that remind them of their grandmother’s house,” said Daryl Way. He should know. He’s bought and sold a lot of antique tools over the years.

“Usually things like that end up on walls in houses,” he said.

“All dealers start out as collectors,” he added. “Pretty soon you’ve got a house and garage full of stuff.”

Way said when deciding what tools to use as design elements in your home, the choice is unique to the individual. “It takes just the right person to buy an old tool,” he said. “The item has to fit the person.”

Today Way has a booth in the Monroe Street Market Antique Mall, and that booth contains some tools that some folks may not recognize. He holds up a 3-foot-long metal screw with a cross handle.

“Do you know what this is? It’s an auger,” he said. “This is what you’d use to drill a hole with in the old days. Now everything’s electric.”

Way recommends woodworking tools for the beginning antique tool collector. “If you are just trying to remember back when, they are pretty easy to find and there are all different kinds.”

He picks up another metal object with a flat, sharp head.

“Think about how people roof houses today,” he said. “This is a roof hatchet. That was real work. Now everything’s pneumatic.”

Bygone eras relied on human power.

“See this hand scythe? We’ve all got clippers for that job today,” he said. “Can you imagine using this for clearing weeds away?”

He reaches for a green wooden pole about 5-feet long. Attached to the center of the pole is what looks like a giant pair of tweezers. He calls them tongs.

“Now this is a two-man railroad tie carry,” said Way. “See, one man gets on each end and then they use the tongs to pick up the railroad tie. If you had two of these tools you could have four men moving one tie. Two men on each end, lifting.”

Way’s expression becomes animated when he talks about the railroad tools. This is his true love.

“If you are looking for old railroad tools where do you think you look? You go straight to the farmers,” he said. “In the old days, the railroad workers who took care of the track just left their tools beside it come quitting time.

“The next morning they’d go to the tool shed and get some more tools to start their day, and the farmers would have all come out of their houses the evening before and picked up the tools along the track.”

All Way’s tools have been meticulously cleaned. He removes the years of rust from the implement before displaying it in his shop. But, Way admits, this is only his preference.

“Half of the people want their old tools left natural, and the other half want them clean,” he said. “I had a partner years ago who brought tools in just as he found them – rusty, dirt and weeds sticking out everywhere – and he sold just as many things as I did.”

He reminds antique tool collectors to “keep in mind that the fun is in the hunt,” he said. “For me, I just love old things – things I remember as a kid.”