"Crispin" hammer...?

Re: "Crispin" hammer...?

KennethS

>Hello again,

My attempt to include a picture failed.

Here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/7coqz

Thanks again,

Kenneth

picture

Dan Donaldson

>You used the webpage and not the picture location.

Re: "Crispin" hammer...?

Skip in Falls Church

>Hi Kenneth,

I asked exactly the same question of one of the shoemakers at Colonial Williamsburg as I was puzzled about the way it was made as well. Not only did he explain, he deomonstrated while telling me they preferred being called shoemakers and not cobblers. That end of the hammer is used to "even up" sole leathers on shoes. This is accomplished by striking the leather with the edge.

From what I've seen the older the hammer, the straigher that piece is. I don't know why the newer hammers are so curved as it seems to make it a bit less effective for the given purpose, at least IMO.

Skip

Re: "Crispin" hammer...?

Jim in Burlington On

>My Grandfather was a shoemaker. Before putting the sole on he stretched the leather by hammering it with the curved end but rarely. The finger and thumb groove worn into the handle are for it facing forward.

Not "Crispin" Hammers

todd hughes

>The hammers shown in the photo are not Crispin hammers but rather just ordinary shoe makers hammers. Crispin hammers are heavy hammers that are different looking and that have two faces and were used by cobblers to drive in heavy shoe nails. These type of hammers [Crispin now] first came out around the last half of the 1800s and were also called a Knights of Labor hammer and is simular to a couple other heavy lasting hammers known as Cordwainers hammers.

Some thought that they were called crispin hammers because they had two faces and were named after St. Crispin [patron saint of cobblers] and his brother Crispianus ......Todd

One to look for

cooper suter

>A rarer varient on the cobblers hammer, the clawed cobblers hammer.

Keep an eye out, they're "desirable".

Got this one at Shipshewana last year.

Coop

Re: Not "Crispin" Hammers

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>And on St. Crispin's Day, you will turn to your friends and say "I was there."

Shakespeare, Henry V, speech to the troops just before they go to battle the French

Pam

Re: Not "Crispin" Hammers

Chad Pearson

>Pam,

I've heard of St. Crispin's day from Shakespeare,...but I've never know what date it was or what it signified...any knowledge you'd like to share?

October 25th *LINK*

Dave Thompson

>Not something I celebrate, though I'm also not a cobbler, tanner or leather worker. Just familiar with it through Henry V.... (the Kenneth Branagh movie of it is excellent, BTW).


Wikipedia on St Crispin

Re: Not "Crispin" Hammers

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>I only know about the play and rough dates. First, that it was St. Crispin's Day meant nothing as far as going into battle, Henry and/or Shakespeare used it as a rhetorical device, assuming that there is such a thing as St. Crispin's Day. Roughly Henry was born in the very late 14th century, somehow managed to gain control from many other family members who had valid claims in the early 15th century, and he united England and France under one throne.

The play was written in the very late 16th century/very early 17th.

He was the one who befriended Falstaff, the foot soldiers appreciated him.

Pam

Re: October 25th

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Aha, it is a leather worker's day. Makes sense, Shakespeare's father was a glove maker. The Olivier film version is also excellent.

Pam

There is no end to the knowledge on this board :>)

Vic Parisian

>

Re: Not "Crispin" Hammers

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>The battle actually did occur on the 25th of October which is St Crispin's feast day (or St Crispian as it is written in Henry V).

I've seen both film versions but I prefer the Branagh edition. It is more realistic. However, Olivier's version has to be seen in the context of the time it was being performed in WWII as a rallying cry in the face of the extremely dark times that the British were going through at that time.

Re: Not "Crispin" Hammers

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Interesting, Mark, guess my assumption about artistic license is shot. The Branagh is more realistic, the Olivier more staged; but that could be due to film technology as much as anything. Even 30 years ago most filmed plays were fairly simply staged.

Pam