I recently went to the Midwest to pick up some of my 82-year-old father’s workshop tools. He is a fascinating man. He spent his professional life as an electrical engineer, and his personal one as a carpenter. We’ve never agreed on politics or shared a common view on current affairs, but our bond runs true about the built environment. I am currently building a workshop in Boston. This workshop will undoubtedly pale in comparison to the size and breadth of his, but will indeed be one of familiarity to us both.
He told me that I should come and take a look through his prized possessions to make my shop a respectable one. His is filled with planers, and lathes, of table saws and welding machines. He has measuring devises that look seaworthy in nature, although used to measure mortise and tenon joinery.
My family moved to Michigan from Poland in the early 20th Century to become potato farmers. Taking tools on to the field was not easy and I found this amazing treasure.
This thing is a screwdriver, pliers, a hammer AND a hatchet…. take that Swiss Army. I can’t help but reflect about technology when I stand in this midst. At Silverman Trykowski, we use the most modern technology. We use a FARO Scanner to survey a space.
It devises points on a cloud that can be used with Revit to draft and understand an area. It captures shadows, and glass, and other small variations about place and time. My father gave me this old survey equipment. 
It’s heavy. It’s hardly portable. There are knobs that turn and its ballast is thick and stable. The only thing that it has to do with clouds is move out of the rain so that it doesn’t intrude its brass and porous enclaves. There are two common denominators that these instruments share; one being the amount of training involved in using them, and second their end results, although the FARO is undoubtedly more precise. They both measure horizontal positions in geographic coordinates and use benchmarks to measure space. 
I find myself caught between the past and the future, which is a nice place to be. I am a gen-Xer that grew up between these worlds. Computers and technology are not foreign for me as I’ve grown proficient in using them, however I appreciate my knowledge of a good hand tool. I can only hope that the things I build and make can reflect this same sensibility.
