Author of the new book, Borg Like Me, Gareth Branwyn tells us about the set of household tools he inherited from the former occupants of his house that have proven their usefulness and longevity over the years. In this episode we discuss what makes these tools so special and how we all can prepare to pass on our household’s best suited tools to the next generation of homeowners.

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Show Notes:

Gareth’s Website

Gareth’s Book: Borg Like Me: & Other Tales of Art, Eros, and Embedded Systems

Here are Gareth’s tool picks, with quotes from the show:

Wiss “Nutcracker” Scissors (Modern Equivalent): $18

“These scissors are basically a kitchen multitool of the fifties. They have a distinctive red handle. They’re just really optimized. Everything is really thought through and they have a lot of little gadgets on it.”

Fiskar’s Scissors: $22

“Years ago on Make I reviewed a pair of Fiskars scissors…Super sharp scissors…and I used those, as you mentioned, for cutting food.”
Super Scraper (Modern Equivalent): $3

“I use the scraper every day. This has gotta be the oldest tool, right? It’s like a seashell or a piece of bone that you use for debarking wood or scraping hides, so I love that.”

Gilhoolie: $15

“It’s a cam-operated jar opener. I have arthritis in my wrists and I’ve been going through a spate recently where my right wrist doesn’t work and the other day I had to open up a jar and I couldn’t even begin to twist it off. It was a pretty wide jar and this thing, even with my wrist not working, cracked the seal with no problem.”

Staonal Black Marking Crayon: $4.25

“…it’s like a marking crayon, like a carpenter’s crayon which has really cool fifties typography on it.”

Door-Ease: $2

“There’s this thing called Door Ease, which is a stick of wax for unsticking drawers and I looked at those things and thought, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’ and then one day five years later I had a sticky drawer and I thought, ‘Wait, I have the technology!’ so I went downstairs and got my Door Ease and it hasn’t stuck since.”

Qwikie (Modern Equivalent): $4.50

“[For touching up marks on painted walls] It’s kind of like a nail polish bottle, where the brush is actually in the bottle.”

Empty Touch-up Bottle 2 Oz.: $3

“We’ve been painting all the rooms in our house and when we finish I save a small container of it, like a cup’s worth, in a little jar and then just stash it in a drawer of whatever room we painted in, so that way if you drill a hole or remove a painting and pull a nail out, you can spackle it and paint it over with that paint rather than leaving big jar somewhere rusting away.”

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Gareth has also kindly supplied us with images of the vintage tools he inherited with his house.

Thanks, Gareth!

Wiss “Nutcracker” Scissors, Super Scraper and Gilhoolie (Links, images and prices for similar products can be seen above.)

Staonal Black Marking Crayon and Door Ease (Links, images and prices for these items can be seen above.)

-- Cool Tools 07/10/14