A man’s tools were his livelihood, and were carefully nurtured, and usually handed down to each new generation.

On display we have a toolbox that came to New Liskeard circa.1920 with Mr. Gus Sibley. He came to the area with Mr. Len Hill, from Huntsville. Mr. Sibley became the chief engineer at Hill-Clark-Francis Limited and this toolbox and contents were used all over the plant. Mr. Sibley’s daughters, Winifred and Helen, lived in New Liskeard all of their lives. In 1950, Mr. Sibley sold the toolbox and contents to Mr. Gordon Lawrence who also worked at Hill-Clark-Francis Limited and the tools continued to be used there in the plant until it was closed in 1966. 
 

Also on display within The Little Claybelt Homesteaders Museum is a selection of tools used by The Shepherdsons in their timber frame barn building business. Every timber and brace was sized and cut with mortise and tenon or notched to hold them in place.  A wooden dowel was then driven into the holes to hold them together.  In the earlier days no nails were used in the timber framing.  The two handed drill had its place, as did a single handed drill, but when many large timbers needed to be drilled, William Shepherdson Sr. invented a horse driven drilling apparatus that saved a great deal of hard work. Some of the holes were one and a quarter inches in diameter. 
 

This portable wood-sawing machine was invented by William Shepherdson Sr. and was patented in both Canada and the United States in the 1920s. It was used to cut trees into furnace-stove lengths.  Being portable by mounting it on a sleigh for winter use or on a wagon for summer use, it was taken into the farmer’s wood lots or set up beside their homes for convenience. It was unique in that the teeter arm was a little off centre so that as the saw went deeper into a cut the belt got a little tighter to prevent slippage. It also had its own power, (usually a one piston gasoline engine) and a direct drive from the motor to the saw.  The saw moved up and down instead of moving the wood into the saw, as was the custom at the time. 

Although a few pioneers brought some metal tools with them, most tools were hand made from materials available to them on their farms. This picture shows two hay rakes that are totally made of wood. The mallet, used for driving fence posts or other stakes has a metal band to prevent splitting. As time passed and local merchants set up in businesses, hay pitchforks, and shovels were available from the local stores. Some farmers would purchase the metal parts, such as the hoe or pike pole point and put in a handle made from local trees.