The Tools of A.P. Lord
Here's one of my favorite old images of a Portland Maine sail loft in the 1880s. The suspended coal stove allowed for canvas to be laid beneath it. The Charles Mallory Sail Loft at the Mystic Seaport Museum has the same arrangement. The print clearly illustrates the use of the sailmaking tools and benches, as well as how labor intensive sailmaking had to be before the common use of the sewing machine. This could well represent a workspace familiar to A.P. Lord from the time of his apprenticeship, through his years in Bath.
The sailmakers pictured above are performing a couple of the most common tasks; seaming of panels, and hand sewing grommets. The fellow sitting in the foreground is using the bench hook, securing the sailcloth to his right allowing him free use of his hand for stitching with the sail twine, needle and palm.
These are Amos Lords palms. Each has a date scratched into the raw hide; 1892 on the upper "roping" palm, and 1906 on the lower "seaming" palm. The roping palm is made with an extra "horn" of leather surrounding where the thumb comes through. A hitch of sail twine can be wrapped around the horn allowing the sailmaker to effectively pull back on each stitch in the heavy work. Seaming requires less tension for each stitch, and the palm is accordingly built lighter. Although it was not beyond the capabilities of a sailmaker to fabricate his own palm, many in the last part of the 19th century purchased manufactured ones. These appear to be from the same maker, though unmarked except for the dates.
A bench hook and whalebone fid above.
The fid is used for opening up the "lay" of the rope for splicing (weaving a loop or joining two ends of line together), and for reaming out the middle of a finished hand sewn grommet. The bone fid and heaver (right) were also a part of A.P. Lords collection of tools. The (assumed) whale bone fid was turned on a lathe in the same manner as the wooden ones, and served the same purpose. The heaver was in effect a hand-held windlass, where by taking wraps of sail twine around it's stock and turning the handle, mechanical advantage was added to the tightening of a seizing or a stitch.
This is one of the two sailmakers benches I have that were once used by A.P. Lord. It is the one he is sitting on in the home page photo. I've found no date or any other indication as to when it was built. It could have been from any one of his previous locations, or one he acquired in the Berry sail loft purchase in 1919. It's similar to the "peg o' leg" style bench as seen above in the Portland loft, and has a canvas pocket hanging off the back side for twine, etc. The bulk of his fids and spikes are nested in holes slightly angled towards the user for easy deployment. A cork block holds some sail needles, and the bench hook is secured in a fid hole, allowing adjustment to the lanyard length.
A.P. Lord's Singer 731 machine dates back to 1919. He may have purchased it new, around the time of his move to Camden after WW1. It's a large straight stitch machine still capable of sewing through many layers of heavy canvas. As fast as the machine could seam a sail when compared to hand stitching, the unwaxed machine thread was quicker to deteriorate than the waxed sail twine applied with the needle and palm. Machine thread will also stand out more on the surface of the sail, making it more easily chafed. The labor cost savings out weighed these disadvantages however, and machines like this one became an essential tool to the sailmaker in the last days of working sail. When I first came to the shop, each machine had it's motor mounted to the floor, with a long leather belt to the flywheel. Years ago I put the machine "heads" on modern "stands" with clutch motors. The machine now belongs to Jenny Baxter and is still used on portions of of large traditional sails.
Many of A. P. Lord’s other tools are now on exhibit at the Sail, Power and Steam Museum in Rockland, Maine.
It’s a place worth visiting if you’re in the area.