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Bridge City Tools
Bridge City Tools
Bridge City Tool Works was founded in Portland, Oregon in 1983. They produce some of the finest and most beautiful woodworking tools available anywhere. Many of these tools are sought after by collectors to fill their shelves, while some remain in the hands of craftspeople who put them to use in their daily work. My late teacher and mentor was one of the original founding members of Bridge City Tool Works, and as such, reserved tools number 733 and 734 from the first runs of each new product for many years up through the mid 1990's. Over the years, he had sold some of them, gifted others, and used a few to "barter" for work he needed done, but many of the tools he kept for himself.
My first introduction to these tools was as a high schooler while working with him in his shop. I vividly remember standing on one side of his table saw/work bench, watching him rumage through a box on a high shelf, and producing a waterbottle-sized rectangular box covered in grey and red. From it, he produced an exquisit tool the likes of which I had never seen: not only was the physical tool something I could not identify, but the rosewood and brass make-up of the tool and careful, intricate craftsmanship obviously employeed in its construction challenged everything I had ever understood about tools. Until that point, I had thought of tools as little more than the objects employeed to make or repair other objects, and their function was to "do their job" and create good craftsmanship. But I had never really considered the tool as an object of craftsmanship in and of itself. Wide-eyed and with a mouth agape like a koi fish, I asked what ...that... was. My mentor beamed, and with pride in his voice exclainmed "This... is a CS-1 Centerscribe."
The seed had been planted, but it was not until after my senior year of high school in 2007 that the love of fine tools really took hold. Shortly before I left for college, my mentor presented me with a grey and red box. It contained a CT-2 "Squevelevel", bearing my mentor's initials and number 733. He told me even if I never use it, and even if I never went on to be a luthier, that he hoped I would appreciate it and that it would remind me of him and our work together. Laughing, he said maybe if I worked in a shop someday, I could put it on display.
Four years later, almost to the week, BFA degree in hand, I was incredibly blessed to be hired on to work full time in the shop of Classic Violins. Settling in, one of the first things I set up on my desk was the CS-2. It's remained either in my toolbox or on my desk since then, a constant reminder of where the dream began.
My mentor passed away in April of 2014, after a lengthy and painful battle with multiple health problems and complications from a botched back surgery. Among other things, he left me what remained of his collection of Bridge City Tools. I have added to this collection over the years, and am proud to maintain and use many of these tools in my daily work. I am inspired by the beauty and functionality of these magnificent tools, and I feel that in some small way, Mark's legacy lives on through my own work.
The tools pictured here are but a part of the Cooley/Hamann collection of Bridge City Tools. I am proud to curate, document, and above all USE these fine tools, and am always interested in building the collection.
More pictures of (some) of these tools can be seen on Pintrest here.
HP-9 Dual Angle Block Plane
CS-1 Centerscribe
TB-5 End Locking Bevel
SS-2 Saddle Square
CT-2 Squevelevel (Combination square, level, sliding bevel)
AS-3 Try Squares, 733 & 734
CT-2 Squevelevel (Combination square, level, sliding bevel)
PB-1 Palm Brace Drill
As time allows, I hope to eventually document the entire collection on this page.