Grandpas

So, it was my Grandpa Lohmar that got me into woodworking.  He got into woodworking later in life and mainly did machine wood working.  In his retirement years he and I have been able to do many projects together.

Grandpa and I sitting on the porch glider we made for Nathan's wedding.

I always knew that my Grandpa Bussen had done woodworking throughout his life, but I guess I had never given it much thought.  He passed before I really got interested in it, so I never had that connection with him to it.  However, it struck me when we were going over the tool list for school that these were probably all the same tools that Grandpa used, since he did more of his work by hand.  Unfortunately, most of his tools got sold at auction after my Grandma passed a few years back.  However,  I called my mom to see if she had any of Grandpa's old tools.  She sent me this photo of some sweet old wooden hand planes.

She said they probably originally belonged to my great-grandpa.

I am really excited to go home in April for spring break and see what else she has.  Generally, the older the tools, the higher quality they are.  They were designed in the best way possible, but over the years companies kept cutting corners to save money.  These hand planes may be a little too old, though.  Wooden planes are difficult to keep tuned up.  The best quality came when they started producing cast metal bodies.  These will still be awesome to have for their history.  It has always meant a lot to me that I have some of my Grandpa Lohmar's tools that I can use in my own work.  It will be awesome to have some from Grandpa Bussen as well.