The Evolution of Toolmaking

Toolmaking has undergone a lot of change since humans started making tools and especially in the last few hundred years with the jump from blacksmiths to factories. Add to that improvements in precision, automation and materials and you’ll see that toolmakers today can make the same number of tools in seconds and minutes that a blacksmith would take months or a year to produce in their forge. Though not always the case, the quality of these new tools is as good as or better than the tools made by a blacksmith. But how exactly has tool making changed, and how has it been possible to preserve the tool making tradition to preserve quality?

Perhaps one of the best ways to see this evolution is to take a look at the technology of the past. We'll use Klein Tools as an example, because their story has some parallels to other toolmakers like Gedore and others in that they started with a small forge making tools on demand then blew up into a renowned toolmaker. The founder of Klein Tools, Mathias Klein, was a blacksmith by trade and spent a good deal of time applying his trade over the years. He got his start in the USA working on a whaling ship as a blacksmith but later rose to the occasion to repair a set of pliers for a lineman. Word of mouth led other tool users to Klein’s shop where he and his sons began applying the blacksmith trade to tool making. Several years after their founding in 1857, Klein was a full on toolmaker.

Not long after Klein started focusing on making tools, and even a few years before, the invention of the steam hammer by James Nasmyth came in 1847, though some sources cite 1842. There is some debate as to whether Nasmyth or a Frenchman named Francois Bourdon invented it, however the technology of the steam hammer…I guess…revolutionized how metal was worked and tools were made. And good thing too, because progress was moving fast, new tools were needed at a pace that only machine production could keep up with. This technology was soon complemented by drop hammers and the hydraulic press and the art of blacksmithing was largely replaced by machines, however some overlap of the two technologies was unavoidable. The steam hammer and similar tools were able to apply the same amount of force in one punch that a blacksmith would take hours to do. These new machines were the way for metal to be forged.

With the advent of the 1900s, the technology for machine forging grew more efficient and saved costs. The technology and manufacturing processes developed to such a point that now, at Klein Tools for example, they can take an unshaped metal bar, heat it up to 2300 and send it through the machine process to make pliers. The machine dies hit the steel with up to about 6,000 pounds of pressure and within 6 seconds you can have the parts of the tool from what was just a metal bar. Probably one minute of work produces as many tools as a whole smithy did in a week. This process is more precise and consistent too as the machines use dies that ensure an exact copy every time.

If you were a tradesman, for many centuries, blacksmiths were your go-to for any nails, tools or other metal implements, but as you can see, technology has made huge improvements in making tools and cutting costs through mass production. The modern tool making process started with a number of blacksmiths who grew their production capacity and eventually integrated the technology of the Industrial Revolution to make tools to meet the demands of the era. As automated production improved, it’s become easier and easier to make tools better and more quickly. It could almost be said that modern technology has practically been perfected. That being the case, it will be really interesting to see how 3D printing and nanotechnology will change the landscape of toolmaking.