Wiktor posted the Winsted Edge Tool Works history to his site:
http://www.wkfinetools.com
He did a great job. It's a web based version with a table of
contents. A PDF version is also posted on the site.
He also wanted a bio so I put one together and he suggested I post it
to the list, so here it is.
In real life, I am an assistant professor at the University of Rhode
Island. My specialty is plant pathology, the study of plant
diseases. In particular, my research focuses on those diseases that
attack grasses. I have an interest in fungal, bacterial and nematode
pathogens and spent my graduate years working on vegetables. At URI
I teach a number of courses during the academic year and run the URI
Turf Disease Diagnostic Laboratory during the summer. In that
capacity, I diagnose and develop management strategies for grass
diseases on golf courses.
My two main hobbies are genealogical research and using/collecting
old hand tools. When I was a graduate student at Cornell University,
I discovered that the school has a vast collection of books relating
to the history of New England. Being a New Englander, I could not
have found a better place to undertake a genealogical research
project.
It was only a few years ago, however, that I started collecting hand
tools, as a result of a "plane epiphany". Although the son of a
contractor and maybe because of it, my woodworking projects had
always been utilitarian and crude. They were more suited to holding
up a house than living in one. Having taken a single shop class in
my youth, most hand tools were virtual foreigners to me. But one
day, out of the blue, it occurred to me that a hand plane would be
useful. So I bought a brand new Stanley 12-220 to help do some finish
work in my son's bedroom. I had never used a hand plane before but
after 2 passes of the plane, I could see the creative value and the
possibilities of such an implement. By having a tool, I feel the
compulsive urge to use it. Thus my discovery of old tools has
allowed me, even forced me, to develop the skills for which these
tools were intended. And as a result, I can achieve a level of
creative elegance in wood that has eluded me for most of my lifetime.
Discovering the history of old tools is much like undertaking a
genealogical research project. But instead of your genes tying you
to those that came before you, you have a tool. An object. An
artifact. And it is fascinating to contemplate those that used that
tool before you and where it may have travelled and what it may have
created. The Winsted Edge Tool Works has interested me because very
little has been published about the company and their mysterious use
of T.H. Witherby's name. And in the end, it all comes down to
personal history. I have lived most of my life in Connecticut and my
summers as a boy scout were spent at Camp Sequassen, Winsted, CT.
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