Last week, I was a little off for two days – a pissed off sort of sad. I thought I had left my hammer out while fence building and it had walked away with someone else. I found it Thursday evening in the garage and I almost did a little jig. This hammer is special to me: I bought it brand new and shinny when I was 12 because my dad said ‘Estwing was the best’ long before they were in Big Box stores and when you had to drive to a particular store in town to buy them. I think it was like $26 and I paid part of the total with rolls of dimes and nickels.

I used it to build my first wall, lay sub-floor, hang countless pictures, install everything from siding to cabinets to trim to roof trusses.  It has fed me and my children.  I have other hammers including a matching 16oz trim hammer and 4 blue elastomer handled Estwings, but this one has been my constant companion for 30 years and will out live me.  Maybe my children or grandchildren will use and appreciate it and think of me when I am gone.

There was a book written in 1990 called “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien.  It is fictionalized account of one man’s experience in during the war in Vietnam told in part as a discussion about what he and his companions carried with them.  I read it in college and it changed my perception and appreciation for the often mundane things we carry in our pockets, in our bags, and out tool belts.  Those simple objects often come to have powerful associations and meaning for us.  I have decided to start a new weekly post covering the tools and things that I share my day and life with.