I pulled a plastic toolbox down from a basement shelf yesterday afternoon, recalling that we'd used it last spring to shuttle everyday wrenches and pliers and such. Buried in the bottom of the box I found three tools that once belonged to my maternal grandfather -- a claw hammer, tin snips and pruning shears.I don't remember the last time I actually used any of those tools. We probably tossed them into the box as an afterthought, part of the process of making small items disappear into containers headed for our new place. Turning them over in my hands now, however, I was drawn to investigate the stories they might have to tell.
Carved into one side of the hammer's oak handle are my grandfather's initials. The other side bears his surname. His last initial is scratched into the butt.Apparently he prized this simple tool and, typical of Depression-era Heartlanders, he didn't want it wandering off. I can't say that I blame him.
The head carries the marks of the maker: HELLER and MADE IN U.S.A., flanking the image of a horse.Heller & Bros. made hammers and files, specializing in farriers' tools (thus the horse). Founded in Newark, New Jersey in 1866, Heller bought the fire-ravaged Rex File & Saw Co. in Newcomerstown, Ohio in 1917 and by the early 1950s had shifted virtually all of its production there.
It's not clear when or where this hammer was made; for what it's worth, my grandfather lived his entire life 15 miles south of the Newcomerstown plant. Heller was sold to Simonds in 1955, and while the brand survives today, production has moved to South America.
The small pair of tin snips offers no obvious clues to its origins. The pruning shears, on the other hand, are quite intriguing.
Behind the pivot, one blade is stamped with T. HESSENBRUCH & CO. arched over PHILA. On the other is a standing bear grasping a cane.
Hessenbruch, which sold its marked tools from Philadelphia between 1873 and 1926, usually is associated with fine German straight razors and, to a lesser degree, gentleman's pocketknives. The initial "T" reportedly stands for "Thomas" and helps date this tool to before 1890, when son Hermann assumed the business. (At that time the mark was changed to "H. HESSENBRUCH.")
On Hessenbruch's razors and knives, from what I gather, the bear icon often was accompanied by the words "WILD INSPECTION" (whatever that means) or "PERFECTION WARRANTED" (which at least makes sense). There's no such text on these pruning shears.I'm not likely to press my grandfather's tools into regular service again anytime soon, despite the fact that they're still solid and capable. I'll keep them close at hand anyway, if only to be reminded of the history behind them.
