Forestry Commission Tool List 1963 with price lists at 1964 and amendments to 1968
Once in a while an item comes to this desk which jolts the reader back many decades and it was such an event when Richard Siddons, Wales, forwarded a scanned copy of an old FC Tool List that he had saved from destruction.
Those of us of a certain vintage will very fondly recall scanning through the images of forestry tools, their names, manufacturers and price lists, wondering if they ‘could be afforded’ for an upcoming piece of work. Normally in those early days planting spades and bags were the everyday mundane tools for work with an occasional draining rutter thrown in. However, with the coming of the pulp mill, the advent of forest thinning suddenly jumped right into the work schedule and the tool list, overnight, was quickly pulled down off the top shelf. It was thumbed through and decisions made on tools for marking and numbering trees, slim line axes (what weight or shaft length?), chainsaw sharpening guides and other exotically named ‘modern’ equipment. Even more excitingly - money was available to get fully equipped!
Richard has done and excellent job of dismantling the Tool List book, scanning the pages individually that show the tool images, tool descriptions , manufacturers, and added the various amendments on prices, tool availability and suppliers up to 1968.
A very big thanks to Richard - a very valuable bit of Forestry Commission history. Enjoy another scan through the tool list in the attached PDF link below!