Holwell Works: Tools

Tools

The tools used by workers at Holwell were originally rather basic. Maurice Bailey began work as an apprentice electrician in 1942 at Sewston Quarry. When he began work he had to purchase his own tools to work with. He describes the basic tools he needed.

And where had you bought your original tools?

We just bought them from an iron monger. We had to go out and buy our own tools. This was part of the deal sort of thing.

This was part of being an apprentice - you provided your own basic tools?

Yes.

So what would be a basic set of tools?

Basically what you wanted was a pair of pliers, a decent screwdriver and a few spanners, that was what it amounted to initially and you improved on that as you went along it was you know, socket spanners hadn't come in then, they were just ordinary open-ended spanners or box spanners which were tubular spanners.

(Maurice Bailey)

Roy Beeken completed an apprenticeship in the electrical department at Holwell.

Can you tell me some of the tools that you use?

A hacksaw, screwdrivers, large spanners, small spanners. But I wasn't allowed to use the large drilling machines, in those days I wasn't old enough to operate the machinery and in those days they hadn't got electric hand drills or hand tools. All drilling was done by mechanical drills. I mean mechanical as what I would class as ratchet drills.

(Roy Beeken)