I had — and still have — an ancient pair of wirecutters. This thing goes through piano wire as if it were butter. In an act of world-class blasphemy, I sometimes use it to clip my toenails. It’s a Starrett.
We used to go to Kaufman Industrial Supply in East Cambridge. You went there when you needed something really good like a 24 gauge wood screw — that’d be the one that holds the cast-iron plate in the piano — or a Soss hinge. And so off to Kaufman’s I went when I decided that ancient tool deserved a new set of jaws.
Walked in, dropped it on the counter. “It needs new jaws.” He picked it up, turned it over doubtfully. Hesitantly, “I don’t know…” This simply wasn’t acceptable. “It’s a Starrett.” I spat it out. “Oh,” very quietly. A minute later, he re-emerged, shiny new parts in hand.
Tags: hardware
Wish I had a Starrett.
I asked for a nib recently and the assistant didn’t know what a nib was or what it was used for!
Old tools are very effective, but old fools are very trying!
But try we must, for what alternative do we have?
the anti-try is worth mentioning…I find it to be of great merit.
Ahhh…Starrett tools. I remember driving through western Massachusetts one summer while on vacation some 20 years ago and seeing a sign for the city Athol. That name sounded familiar but it wasn’t until I came over the top of a hill that I saw a huge turn-of-the-century (20th,that is) brick building-”Starrett Tools”. I was enetering the “Emerald City” of the tool world.
How many pianos did you restring with those my old piano tech colleague?
Davka – The Emerald City of the tool world. I couldn’t have said it better. In fact, I didn’t.
And, as regards the fair city of Athol, the story goes that when Endicott Peabody was elected Governor of Massachusetts, on of his opponents said, “Now Massachusetts has three towns named after the Governor: Peabody, Marblehead and Athol.”
“It’s a Starrett” – Just love seeing that on my blog list. This will remain a poem/memory title for me.
Might Stoddard’s Cutlery in Newton have some assistance to offer the discerning tool user?