The Material Legacy

Book Ends

Wooden book ends, also made by me as a manual training class project at about the same time, are made of gumwood stained and varnished. The design represents my initials – A.L.C.

Silver Shaving Mug

Niels L. Ferslev

Mug contained bar soap: add water, work up lather with shaving brush. When finished, dump water, leaving soap.

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.

Orange spoon

For eating oranges cut in half.

Shop Tools

Acquired by me during high school years (1927-31) or before.

• Work bench (made for me by my father)
• Vise
• Claw hammer (marked Alty on handle)
• Push drill (Mr. Punch)
• Auger bits for brace (6/16″, 8/16″, 10/16″)
• Countersink bit
• Twist bit (¼)
• Brace
• Marking guage
• Try square
• Large screw driver (square shank, wood handle) (bought for me by my Uncle Sam Cardinal)
• Screw driver set (3 in 1)
• Wooden handle containing may tools
• Jack plane
• Carpenter chisels (½″ ¾″)
• Spoke shave
• Hand cranked grinder