Gordon Swift is a boatbuilder who lives in Kensington, N.H. He has been building wooden boats for nearly three decades. His apprenticeship was with Bud Macintosh. Crystal interviewed Gordon in his boat shop surrounded by tools accumulated over his many years of building. Here are excerpts from that interview. -Ed.

Q: Are there tools that were only used for boat building? If so what are their names and what parts of the boat are they used on?

A: I do not know if a... maybe some of the old wooden planes. That's a ...(He said showing me one of his planes) This one I know belonged to an old boat builder out in California... and a... I smoothed the hull of John's boat with this one.

Q: Do you feel using modern tools make a boat seem less authentic to you?

A: No... not at all. I have a philosophy that anything you do with a machine that you don't do by hand is a lot better and faster.

Q: What would you say your oldest tool in your workshop is?

A: A... me (We had some giggles about that one). A gee that's a good question. That band saw is about 18- something and I got that from Ray Acremen. I bought that off from him for $200. And he said "I've had that for how many years and I just rebuilt it," and I said it's not for sale. I think it¹s from 1860,1870 (He turned the machine on after Dawn asked if it was loud. We found out that it was quieter then the band saw we have in the wood shop room).

Q: If you bought a new industrial size band saw, like the one you have here, how much do you think it would cost you?

A: Oh, about $2500 (Mr. David Taylor put in a sheesh and said "Ya, at least").

Q: Why do you feel that some of the designs of some of these tools have changed?

A: The amount of money it costs to build this (pointing to his table saw) compared to a contractor saw that they can stamp out in 10 minutes therefore it's cheaper. It's cost effective is the word I guess I'm looking for.

Q: Do you think it's changed for the use easier?

A: No I don¹t think it has anything to do with that. I think it's just a... the companies that manufacture these tools are trying to make them faster and cheaper and getting more people to buy them.

Q: Do you think that tools have changed for the better or the worst?

A: Oh I think that a lot of them have changed for the better, because they have a lot of electrical tools that can do fine work that you had to do before by hand. My daughter gave me a little sander that goes into a corner. It's beautiful I love it, before you had to sit there and sand, and sand, and sand.

Q: Do you feel you spend more money on repairs / blade sharpening to tools or more money to buy new ones?

A: I don't remember ever buying a new tool except for some electrics. All my planes and hand saws I bought for a dollar. My big tools chest I bought it from an estate of an old guy that died, I bought it. 150 bucks for it. Most of the stuff I have is second hand. Probably someday my wife will have to have an auction and sell off all that stuff. People are always bringing stuff in and giving it to me. So, I've added a lot to my collection. I think there's a lot of new tools that have advantages like an electric drill with multiple speeds. I think there's a lot of tools that are gone because people didn't have a use for them.

Q: Do you know of any 19th century tools that you haven't used that would make your job easier or faster that we don't have today?

A: I can't think of any, you buy tools now today I think that a... Maybe the chisels won't have wooden handles any more or this won't be that, but they do make good chisels. They do make good planes. There is a lot of them that disappeared, but they don't make them no more. I'm not just sure how to answer that.

Q: What are some of the tools used in boat building, what are they called and what parts of the boat are they used on?

A: This is a block plane I used for smoothing the hull and a... When it's all rough there's all kinds of corners so you have to go along and you have to plane off each of the corners where there's a seem, and smooth it until it is perfectly smooth this way and then sand it. Same thing with the bottom you have to plane them all smooth. Lots of plane work to reduce the size of the rudder. (He showed me his tool chest) Everything in there at one time or another you use ya know it's a... and a... (He explained some of the tools to me) The bigger the wrench the better. (Then he showed me the tools hanging up around his work shop) My cut-off saw is the most wonderful tool in the world. (He showed me some of his hand planes) There are rabbet ones and round ones.