Sunday, May 13, 2012

Sharps: 'The Woodsman's Tools' (1948)

On this rainy Sunday morning I'm compelled to return to that 1948 Handbook for Boys (1953 printing) and what it has to say about edged tools. Chapter 15 opens with this paragraph:
"Pioneers who settled America and built homes, and cut farms and roads out of a wilderness, depended more on their axes and knives than on any other equipment except their guns. A knife and axe still are a woodsman's most useful tools."
I'm not suggesting that these eight pages, crafted over 60 years ago as a primer for young Scouts, are either comprehensive or conclusive. The information is, however, fundamentally sound and has aged well.