More on emotionally durable design
Further to my recent blog on emotionally durable design I thought I would mention this example. I’m not sure where I came upon this little combination square, I think it may have been a car boot sale over 25 years ago. It’s a handy little gadget, it’s particularly useful for checking whether the ends of sharpened edges on planes and chisels are square and as a depth check and square when cutting mortices.
However the main reason I like this tool is the satisfaction I get from handling it. The way the slightly textured body has a patina on the high spots and the curving of the struts shows an attention to detail from a designer who wanted to put that little extra into the object . There is also an area of slightly heavier corrosion on the rule where the square had been neglected, I cleaned the rust off but this area was left. All these elements help to tell the long history of this tool and give it a relevance to me that makes it a joy to handle.
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Thankyou, Chris.