The Material Legacy

Shop Tools

These tools belonged to my father prior to 1920. Some of them came from my grandfather who died in 1913.

• anvil
• Cold chisels, punch
• Rachet brace
• Ships auger bit
• Small claw hammer
• Carpenter's square (2′)
• Two hand saws (cross cut)
• Oil stone
• Block plane
• Carpenter level (wooden)
• Carpenter chisel (⅜″)

Child Chairs

The four chairs have interesting histories.

The green straight chair was bought by her parents for my wife, Beatrice Ferslev, when she was four years old (in 1919). It was used specifically for her to sit on in the one-seated family automobile while her older sister sat between the parents and the younger sister sat on mother's lap.

The other three chairs were given to me after my *cousin's children outgrew them (about 1915). The training chair was a brown color – stain and varnish –; we never had the tray. The "kitchen" chair was red enamel. I remember the rocker as yellow – probably a stained or natural finish. When Uncle Abe Frei brought the training chair from Spokane, Washington, out to the ranch on Indian Prairie, he was embarassed; so he put it in a burlap bag. I named the chairs for ranch horses – Major (training chair), Queen (kitchen), and Flo (rocker) and drove them with string lines. The chair backs and rear legs still show the wear from being dragged across the floor. I still refer to them by name.

Match Box

This match box was used by my parents for many years. I don't know its origin, but I remember it in the basement at 132 South Oneida Street, Green Bay, Wisconsin, from the mid-1920's. It was mounted near the furnace and remained there when the house was sold to Carl and Marian Sippel in 1950 or 1951. They continued to use the box for matches in the basement until 1982. They gave it to me for Christmas 1982. It continues in use for matches beside our Franklin stove.

The box is wall-mounted of cast iron, and is of self-closing design. It measures about 3¾″ × 2¼ × 1″ – just right for a handful of wooden kitchen matches. These words are cast on the lid: Self Closing – for matches &c. – Patented Dec. 20, 1864 – D.N & Co. – New Haven. The bottom is made rough as a place to scratch the matches. The remainder is coated with black enamel.

In 1983, I removed the original enamel and recoated it with new black enamel.

Field Tools

These tools belonged to my father, Gilbert Cardinal, prior to 1920. Most of them were probably in 1917 when we moved onto a farm at Oneida, Wisconsin.

• Double-bitted axe (handle replaced about 1965)
• Scythe
• Wooden hand hay rake (I turned replacement teeth in 1985)
• Garden spade
• Two three-tined pitch forks
• Corn knife
• Post hole digger
• Buck saw
• Lantern
• Short-handled square shovel (this was discarded by C&NW Ry in 1920's)