the demise of soulcraft

I had unbelievable good fortune today. One of the participants of my workshops this past summer, named Karen, transported all of the items you see above to Milwaukee from Illinois in the back of her suv so I could have this wonderful collection of tools. That's right...... HAVE...... as in FREE! The words "thank you" can't even cover the amount of gratitude I have, Karen! It's absolutely amazing!

A school was deciding to get rid of all of their shop tools and so they were "cleaning house". Karen informed me that everything you see above was headed to the dump! Can you believe it? It's like Matthew Crawford's book ...shop classes disappearing for real. She said nobody knew what the forming stakes were, so no one wanted them. They were trash to anyone else.

The anvil is really beat up, but I'll see if I can get it cleaned up. The rest of the stakes are in excellent condition. You might notice there is a blow-horn stake in the collection of tools. This stake normally is one of the largest stakes in a metalsmiths collection, but look at how the other stakes dwarf the blow-horn. This is a serious collection. Did I mention all of the boxes of brand new (never used) files? And two micrometers. I love the old file boxes; such character.

Even with my great fortune, I am saddened by this gift, because it symbolizes the loss off craft at an institution that has most likely taught many a young person to use their hands in some kind of manual trade. What a loss...