Springcleaning Book 3 – an interesting history of tools and DIY

I thought that Rivets, Trivets and Galvanised Buckets by Tom Fort would be a gentle read about his family’s attempt to run a hardware shop in an English village. I anticipated tales of interesting customers and struggles to make the business work. In fact, the author’s daughter-in-law took over the shop and has run it very successfully, with few or no mishaps, and this book uses the story of the family business to frame an exploration of DIY and the development of various tools and consumables typically sold in a hardware shop. This is one of those books where you don’t know that you don’t know things until you are told them, and where you feel compelled to read interesting snippets to anyone in the vicinity. I wasn’t aware that I knew nothing about hardware items and their history and I also wasn’t aware that I would find learning about them as interesting as I did.

The author talks about the development of DIY as a thing and what contributed to its growth as a hobby and pastime. He tells us about how magazines and TV spread information and enthusiasm. We learn about the advent of large DIY stores but also about small shops, such as this family run one, and what they add to the market. He explores the range of goods sold and what people expect from a hardware shop.

The book then goes on to look at individual items such as types of hammer, the invention of Swarfega, the development of spirit levels, how screws and screwdrivers changed over the years and why, a description of tool boxes and the ideal layout, why plungers work, and, of course, the history of the items in the title of the book. This isn’t particularly technical and the author talks a lot about the people involved – both of these enhance the book for me as I am not involved in any DIY.

I live near two small towns each of which has a hardware sho, such as that featured in this book (Holmfirth and Penistone) and my parents used to own such as shop in rural Somerset. I knew what sort of shop the author was describing and I recognised much of what he said. This was a comfortable and interesting read. I think that I received this book as part of my monthly second-hand book subscription, although I am not sure. It’s in good condition so I shall pass it on, via Oxfam, to someone else who might also enjoy it.