power tools are cool because ther so fast & efficient, but I know ther has to be someone on here that's into use'n hand tools to build with, the feel of the tools in your hand, the sound they make when work'n, a finished bow that no machine has defiled, just the nostalgia & character of the tool is enuff to make a man just sit in his garage with a cup of coffee & stare at them & think..."& ther all mine."

Ok gents, lets see'm.

here are some i got from my grandpa
 

i use the spokeshave and the drawknife all the time.
he used them to build wagons in the ol'days. he got them from his father, and my grandpa was born in 1899- so i dont know how old the tools are.

those two, and my nicholson rasp, and cabinet scrapers- is all i need usually!

"He got them from his father..." how cool is that, if those babys could talk.

sorry chap- having a tough time getting this botophucket to work        yea i know its me- everyone else seems to get it to work just fine.


those tools were made in england, and my grandparents ancestors emigrated to south africa around 1820- thats where i'm from.

those tools were working tools on a pioneers farm/ranch/chunk-o african bush!!

A draw knife with folding handles, never seen that before.

Whats that piece in the bottom right hand corner ??

The tool in the lower right corner is a edge marking tool.  I was lucky enough to also inherit a bunch of woodworking hand tools from my Father, Grandfather and Great Grandfather.  Unfortunately I do not know how to post pics but they are mostly various hand planes, scrapers, hand saws, scribes, spoke shaves and multiple sharpening stones.  There is certainly some magic in using them as they are now helping me build a wood sailboat in addition to some bows.

I got this stave from Dan, I am hoping to tie into it very soon... but here are the tools I have acquired to attempt my first selfbow.

Ralphie, there is hope for you after all these years:) LOL

Looks like a good start, used to be an old timer that set up at the local flea market who sold old tools, I bet a long wheel base pick up couldn't haul what he had, always got a kick out of dig'n thru his stuff, and no matter what you asked about he could tell you what it was used for.

Wish now I had bought some hand tools from him to start with.

Ralph, that begs the question: How many drawknives does a guy need?

Personally, I have four in my bow tool bucket. Two larger size and two small.

Here in southern California there is a series of old tool swapmeets held throughout the year at various locations. You can find all kinds of great stuff, some at reasonable prices and some not so reasonable. Whenever I find drawknives at good prices I pick them up, clean them, sharpen them if needed, and then re-sell them for a couple bucks more to new bowyers who don't know where to find them. Between gas and time I never make any money on them but the tools get into hands that need them so it's all good.

Guy

Working on my first from stave....

><>>
Glenn

I love old hand tools! Here are some of mine.







Not all are antiques, the bow saws and one hand plane were made by myself and my Dad over the years as they were needed. The big jointers were made by my Dad and my Grandfather around 70 years ago.
The tools in the third picture were given to me by a good friend.
Dave.

You win, David:) Those are cool...

I have a couple very old hand saws. They were my grandpas.

Sorry guys, I didn't mean to make a contest of this. I'm just a foaming at the mouth tool hound.    
Wicked looking set of teeth on the one handed saw Roy. Have you ever used it?
Dave.

You did well, Dave... No I've not used that saw. They have chain saws now:) LOL

Really neat seeing those old tools and that they've been passed down thru generations and are still being used.  Most of my bows are from boards and after I use my table saw and belt sander to get them close, I just need a rasp, scraper, and lots of sandpaper to tiller them.  I am thinking about picking up a farrier's rasp, too.

Cool tools, really like'n this thread, I have a few of my grand pa's tools but most are in ruff shape, but as close to wood work'n he ever got was cut'n trees down, he was a logger by trade.

takefive - I was gonna post a pic of the type of rasp I like, but I see you beat me to it.  I love those things!  They never clog and take wood off in a hurry.

I was really surprised by how well it works, John.  Even the coarse side takes wood off very evenly.  I think I paid all of $20 for it on sale at Woodcraft.

Here are my two best drawknives.  The one on top was handed down from my Dad.  It has grooves wore in the handle where your thumbs rest.  The bottom one I picked up at an antique store for $20.  It was in perfect condition.