Telling historic tales, one tool at a time

ALTENBURG, Mo. -- Most everything in the historic U.S. was built by men and women with tools in their hands. The historic tales get down to specifics with some of the hardware they used, some of it now in an exhibit continuing through Sept. 25 at the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum.

Found by Lyndon and Margaret Moore of Bloomfield, more than 200 items from the L&M Tool Collection are illustrated and put into context by rare regional hardware store photographs and historic store exhibit cases, said center director Carla Jordan.

"It is such an honor to have one of the premier small-tool collections in the country," Jordan said. "This is just a small portion of Lyndon's and Margaret's collection."

Jordan said in a news release that the show features tools manufactured in Missouri, rare tools, tools with broad public appeal and tools used in the early settlement of the Show Me State.

Reviewing the artifacts at the 75 Church St. museum in Altenburg, Lyndon Moore said he began his hobby as a teenager and now, at 57, he has pursued it to Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New York. He and his wife own an automotive machine shop in Bloomfield and for the past 10 years have been constructing a building to house their collection, which they expect to remain private.

Lyndon Moore of Bloomfield, Missouri stands among part of his and his wife's historic tool collection that is on display at Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum. (Laura Simon)

"A man can't do anything without tools," Moore said. "That's what built this whole nation. When you get to studying the history behind them, it's very interesting to me who made what and the different patent designs the companies had.

"Some tools didn't work all that good, so they changed them and they worked better. I admired Henry Ford, as a teenager. He was a tool man who was always tinkering with stuff. I saw his museum several times in Detroit."

Some of the couple's more valuable artifacts are plumb bobs in the original boxes, made by Paul Leistner of St. Charles, Missouri, who used dogs to power a lathe and made brass bedsteads and copper foot warmers for buggies. A plumb bob is a weight with a pointed tip hung from a string to establish vertical reference lines in construction.

The center and museum are open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free; more information is available at altenburgmuseum.org or 573-824-6070.

Moore showed an 1870s-vintage railroad surveyor's compass "with blued brass to keep the sun off your eyes" and a large group of axes including the rare red-tinted 1875 Red Mann Ax from a company in Bellefont, Pennsylvania.

Lyndon Moore of Bloomfield, Missouri stands among part of his and his wife's historic tool collection that is on display at Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum. (Laura Simon)

Members of the Midwest Tool Collectors, Missouri Valley Ranch Club and Ford Tool Club, the Moores have a prize 1871 foot-powered scroll saw -- one of 40 foot-powered machines in their possession.

Lyndon made his way around the museum, providing details about several of the tools on display:

* "This handmade blacksmith-shop drill bit is a beautiful work, made with a forge and hammer from a piece of hot metal."

* "This is a big level from a company in Chicago that they used to set up the stones in flour mills, which had to have tolerances of only a few thousandths of an inch because mills were bad to explode."

* "This slide rule was made by a man named Reuters in Dexter [Missouri] between 1899 and 1902. They had a baby named Paul who only lived for three months. I found the baby's grave in the Dexter cemetery."

Lyndon Moore of Bloomfield, Missouri stands among part of his and his wife's historic tool collection that is on display at Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum. (Laura Simon)

Moore said he and his wife have thus far been frustrated in their search for a corrugated No. 2 Bluegrass (wood) Plane made by the Belknap Co. of Louisville, Kentucky.

"That's the first line," he said. "We have the second and third lines, the Pine Knot and the Cyclone. We study all the time and search for photos because photos tell the history. Almost every item turns into a story, and there is no end to the stories."