I tried binding a book with a 19th century sewing frame from a museum in Boston

I got to use a real 1800s sewing frame on loan from the Boston Athenaeum for a special project last month. I thought it would be a pain, but the tension control was so precise it made my modern kettle stitches look sloppy by comparison. Has anyone else tried working with truly old tools and been surprised by the results?

3 comments

3 Comments

susan_adams13d agoMost Upvoted

Totally get that. It's wild how much better some old tools are. I used my grandpa's woodworking planes from the 1940s and they cut cleaner than my brand new ones. The weight and balance were just perfect. Makes you wonder what we lost when everything switched to mass production.

angelarivera13d ago

@susan_adams, it's the same with old kitchen knives and cast iron pans, they just don't make stuff to last anymore.

amy_craig2813d ago

My uncle restores old farm equipment. He found a hand crank drill from the 1920s in a barn. That thing could bore through an oak plank with less effort than my cordless DeWalt. The gears were all brass, cut by hand. You can feel the difference in the work.