Rustic Homemade Hand Tools

By The Mother Earth News Editors
Published on May 1, 1981
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The bark spud makes skinning a raw log a simple task.
The bark spud makes skinning a raw log a simple task.
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The froe is one of three homemade hand tools you can fashion from a car's leaf spring. A properly wielded froe will enable you to make fine splits.
The froe is one of three homemade hand tools you can fashion from a car's leaf spring. A properly wielded froe will enable you to make fine splits.
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A home-wrought mattock—the second of our repurposed leaf spring tools—is as good as the store-bought version.
A home-wrought mattock—the second of our repurposed leaf spring tools—is as good as the store-bought version.
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The drawknife, our final leaf spring tool, can shave a timber's
The drawknife, our final leaf spring tool, can shave a timber's "skin" or its "meat" with ease

Nowadays, it seems that there’s power equipment available
for every imaginable task … and for a few that are
difficult to imagine. But it’s still a real pleasure to
stroll through the aisles of your local hardware store and
catch sight of an honest-to-goodness manual tool.

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