Since time immemorial man has invented tools to help him in the tasks he wants to carry out. Craftsmen have for many years made specific tools or copied manufacturers tools, to undertake the various operations they perform to produce a finished article.
In fact apprentices or learners would be given the task of making the simple everyday tools they would use in their trade. In the years leading up-to the middle of the 20th century, the cost of some tools would have been a considerable part of a man’s wage, so if he could replicate a manufactured design, perform the same functions with it and achieve the same result, he would make his own. If he was employed he would probably use his employers materials to do this. Photographs of examples of some of the tools made by craftsmen are shown below.