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JRedding

U.S. Government tools

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Just for the sake of conversation, I had an old friend in Bountiful, Utah who has since passed away who had a collection of tooling tools that were very old, every tool was black, it looked like gun bluing with a lot of wear, and they were stamped U.S. Govt. He told me the government had them made after WWII and they were dispersed and used in veterans hospitals around the country. He aquired his collection of about forty to fifty pieces in pawn shops and a few at yard sales. I've mentioned the government tools I'd seen to a few other carvers over the years but no one I've talked to has ever seen them. With all the people here I thought someone else may have some information or possibly have in their collection some of these government tools.

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wow... i cant tell from your email if you have the tools or not, but if you do I would love to see pictures, impressions, etc. i was aware that a lot of veterans got started in leather, but wasnt aware that the tools were govt issue.

robert

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wow... i cant tell from your email if you have the tools or not, but if you do I would love to see pictures, impressions, etc. i was aware that a lot of veterans got started in leather, but wasnt aware that the tools were govt issue.

robert

I don't have them, wish I did. The last I knew they were still in Bountiful, his wife still lives there and was still running their repair shop the last I knew. I'd just like to find out any history I could about them.

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wow... i cant tell from your email if you have the tools or not, but if you do I would love to see pictures, impressions, etc. i was aware that a lot of veterans got started in leather, but wasnt aware that the tools were govt issue.robert
Have you tried doing a google search? Edited by Kani

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My Uncle sent me his tools that he still had. He started doing leather during WWII. I have not looked at all of his tools but did find the following:

TM28-325, War Department Technical Manual, Soldier Handicrafts, War Department, June 1945

Section #6 is all on Leathercraft.

Although they show a number of tools, they are all very similar to the ones we use today except for the one used for setting snaps and grommets.

The tools that I have gone through have either have no nomenclature on them or are from the Craftool Company.

I will look through them again this weekend and take pictures of some of the tools as well as the cover of the manual. Since I still work for DoD, I will check with the Lawyers to see if I can get a letter allowing me to scan in the manual and provide it to this forum.

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As promised, here are some pictures of the tools that my uncle sent me. I did check with the Office of Legal Council and they ruled that there were no limitations on my use of the Soldier Handicrafts Manual from the Department of War from WWII.

The file "4 types Old Tools" shows all the tools and what impression they make.

On the lower right are three brass tools. Two are hexagonal and one is square.

Above them are 7 tools that look like they were made from steel rod. Look at the design for the finger grips. On some, they look like they are also the grips used by a high impact forge.

On the bottom left are what look like 7 steel rod based tools. They have a checkered board grip design cut into them in the lower version and on the upper version the checkered board is raised.

On the top are 3 tools that look like they were made from aircraft metal rods. They don't feel right, might be due to lower weight if they are made from aluminum.

The top two are approaching what became the standard from the Craftool Company and later Tandy.

The files "Anvil 1" and "Anvil 2" are pictures of a tool that was featured in the WWII manual for riveting and putting on snaps.

I do have close ups of the working heads of the tools and will post them if anyone is interested.

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Edited by Johanna
reduced pic sizes

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