i have seen leather palms-- the kind to protect the palm of the hand. My father in law (now deceased) collected old ship making tools as a hobby. he had hand awls and sewing kits for sails. he even had an old box of oakum, as well as several old chisel like tools for packing the oakum. all the tools had a one peice, seamless leather straps, so the sailors could keep them on their wrist, and not have them fall into the water.

he had many augers, beautifully made, for fitting mortises into wood. timbers on wooden ships are large, and the augers were too!

He never 'went to sea' but always like ships and the ocean, and when (age 40) he faced being drafted in WWII, he joined the coastguard--a served as an engineer. His Coast Guard service was the only time he was at sea. (after the war he worked for Dept of Parks-- and was the "parkie"--(local name for park employees) for Flushing Meadow Park, as chief engineer in the park, he was responsible for over all park during the 1963 world fair in NY.)


my other obsession