Elegant Tools

Elegance: the state or quality of being elegant: refined grace or propriety; tasteful correctness; ingenious simplicity; neatness; said of form, movement, style (OED).

Many tools appeal to me as elegant. A number of tools used by woodworkers achieved a pinnacle of form and function in the 18th and 19th centuries and have remained little changed since. The best ones look fine, are comfortable to hold and and are ideal for their intended use. Tasteful, ingenious simplicity. Some tools I don’t evaluate as elegant because they are too ornate, others have their elegance compromised by their manufacture or materials.

Well-made tools remain elegant after decades of use, their tasteful correctness enhanced by signs of wear and attractive patina. Most working sheds and wood shops have good examples that spark delight, if not joy, in their users and owners. They have style; in the words of English novelist, Howard Spring, who appreciated Georgian architecture, ‘There’s sense in style. People think it’s an extra, but it isn’t. It’s the thing.’

There is