How does a blind person collect antique tools?

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Jul/Aug 2002 by Holmes, Mickey

Guest Column

[The following is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the June 2001 issue of the The Family Baldwin Journal. Reprinted with permission from the author and from the Society for the Preservation & Study of American Wooden Planes, PO Box 152, New Milford, New Jersey 07646-0152. See their website at www.woodenplane.org or e-mail Mark Thompson at ].

Carefully! Very Carefully!!! I may not be able to see what I'm after, but I sure can feel it, caress it, smell it, stroke it, pet it, and often a love affair is born.

Simply and seriously put, I may have lost my vision almost five years ago, but I never lost my vision of how I wanted to approach my collection. My focus in that respect is still as strong as it was when I shifted into high gear in pursuit of quality plow planes, particularly those with historical significance.

Sure, I still make mistakes with my judgement of condition quality of a piece now and then, but generally speaking my feel can be trusted, probably more than most people's sight. Then, too, I nearly always have my "Humanoid Reader" (my wife) to fall back upon for a judgement call on condition. It is her eye I have to rely on when it comes to confirming a maker's mark, too. Sure, I can feel a firmly struck mark and sometimes, I can all but read the mark with my fingertips, but my sense of feel, while it is quite good, is not quite that good.

I am not one who feels my other senses became keener when I lost my sight. I do know, though, that I rely on all of them to a greater extent than I did before I went blind. And most certainly, I concentrate on them much more forcefully than before. Thus, from that standpoint, they are keener.

When I really hunker down on a piece with my finger tips, I'll bet I can tell you as much about a piece as you can tell me using your sight! More often than not, I can even tell you what kind of wood it is by feeling the grain. Once in a while the really dense woods, such as boxwood and ebony can fool me, and I really have to work hard to tell the difference between Madasgar and Honduras rosewood. But, I'll bet most of you would have a problem with it, too!

Now to the question and answer posed in the first couple of paragraphs: Remember: Old Tools BITE!!! I learned really early that if the Blind Man is going to drag his finger along the sole of the plane, better do it from heel to toe. Fingers that are reduced to chopped liver don't return many messages of feel worth a ding.

Also, those great box lots that produce so many unexpected treasures are land mines disguised as boxes. They not only bite, they chomp, slash, smash, and reduce fingers to useless chopped liver. No use trying to examine anything after checking out a few box lots.

This is when having a pair of eyes with you counts. If alone, and if I really need to do some serious checking that calls for eyes, I go get another collector to help me. However, the first law of examination at an auction is never get someone who could be bidding against you to help you examine condition. Your interest alone might be enough to make up his or her mind to think that, "Hey, here's something nice, I believe I'll give that a ride." The one on the ride will be you. Even a blind man has no friends at an auction.

Like most, I collect makers. But I also collect for feel. If a piece feels really good, has great style, is in good condition, and I can feel the patina just oozing from virtually every pore, it just has to be a piece of value, if for no other reason than its looks. More often than not, when pouring over a piece like that, my wife will inject her opinion, which I value greatly.

Too, I've gotten to be pretty good at identifying makers just by feeling the example. Admittedly, the mark, if it is a healthy strike, gives a good hint, but there are other telltale style features such as the shape of the wedge, shape of the top portion of the toe and heel, chisel cuts (flutes/little decorative touches), chamfers (wide or narrow flat, tight round) owner's marks (particularly if an owner has been a Philadelphian), depth stop style, and decorative bits on arms or nuts. All those little hints add up and suddenly the maker's name jumps right out at me.