From the Bench: The Tack Hammer Story

Synopsis: Michael Cullen’s appreciation for instruments and the tales behind them is one in every of his mom’s enduring legacies.

My mom stored a hammer within the kitchen drawer.

It was a small factor for tacks and nails with a head that was sq. at one finish and wedge-shaped on the different. It was neatly saved in a compartment that might home issues like spatulas, stirring spoons, and tongs. It sat in that drawer for 50 years and solely got here out on uncommon events for a faucet or two earlier than being fastidiously positioned again within the precise spot it as soon as was.

In relation to being a perfectionist and a minimalist, there is no doubt that my mom set the precedent. Every little thing she owned had a function and was stored in immaculate situation. As soon as, once I handed her a carbon metal knife, she merely put it down as a result of the stability and grip have been now completely different and unfamiliar. It might have gone unnoticed by anybody else, however she was an professional with a knife and instantly noticed the distinction. As a younger lady, she accomplished a four-year apprenticeship in a butcher store in Germany, and her knife and sharpening expertise have been legendary.

Extra importantly, all the pieces she owned got here with a narrative. She as soon as turned to me and stated, “All my belongings have which means.” Apparently, she by no means talked about a phrase concerning the hammer. For me, she simply lived in that drawer – a picture that’s nonetheless deeply etched in my reminiscence.

Through the years, she observed my growing expertise as a furnishings maker, first throughout my rigorous apprenticeship on the Leeds Design Workshop underneath the tutelage of English furnishings maker David Powell in Massachusetts, and later once I returned to California to arrange my very own workshop. . Her attentive eye captured each element of my items and he or she did not miss a chance to level out how properly the hinges have been fitted and the way all of the screws have been aligned.

Someday, not lengthy earlier than he died, we have been speaking about his belongings and what to do with them. At one level within the argument, she circled and opened the kitchen drawer and took out that little hammer and proceeded to inform me the way it got here to be in her possession.

When she was 21 years previous, she got here to America from Germany with my father to begin a brand new life. She was leaving her household and the one residence she’d ever recognized. It was on the airport, proper there on the runway, when everybody was crying and saying goodbye, that her father, a grasp of all trades of machines, got here ahead holding a small hammer for her to guard herself and proceed her journey.

These are his phrases: “This hammer symbolizes that in the event you take the time to discover ways to do one thing, will probably be helpful and you’ll at all times survive. Take this with you and preserve it in sight. I now preserve the hammer secure in a drawer in my toolbox as a reminder of these phrases of knowledge.

A while in the past I used to be in Petaluma, California, the place I lived and had a workshop within the nation. Someday I used to be strolling alongside the storefronts on Kentucky Avenue on the town and observed an indication within the window: “Assist Needed—Carpenter.” I instantly considered that hammer my mom stored in her drawer. I stood there for a second after which I stated to myself, I can do that. I can do issues! I’ll Survive.

—Michael Cullen is discovering the best place for all his instruments as he units up his new store in a former hilltop barn in Kent, Connecticut.

Picture: Michael Cullen.

In wonderful carpentry #303