LIBERTY, Maine — From one narrow, crowded aisle to the next, Lachlan Carlson examined boxes, trays, drawer and shelves filled with old tools.
He had come looking for an ax, of which there was only one—and not the type he wanted.
"This wasn’t the only reason I came here, but all my woodworker friends said you should stop by, dude, stop by,” Carlson said.
That’s how the boatbuilder from Seattle, visiting Maine for a few days, discovered Liberty Tool Company, which he said even has a reputation on the West Coast.
“I love it. It's fantastic,” he said before heading to the cash register.
Plenty of other people apparently agree. After more than 40 years of business, Liberty Tool has become a frequent stop for tool lovers and a surprisingly popular destination for some tourists.
“People from everywhere, all over the United States,” said Sharon Simmons, who has worked at the store the past five years, pricing, displaying, and selling tools and a range of antiques.
"We have people come from California, Texas, Florida, all over, all through the summer," she added.
Mainers come year-round, some just for curiosity, others to find a tool they can use.
"Some of the tools in my belt every day came from here,” Ian Cust, a carpenter from Deer Isle, said.
The business began in 1970, when Skip Brack opened a store on Jonesport that included old tools and drew a regular crowd of customers. In 1976 he bought the former IGA and dance hall in the village of Liberty and opened Liberty Tool. He added another store in the Hulls Cove section of Bar Harbor and still owns both of them.
Mike Wilson, who retired to Maine after being head of facilities for a major hospital in Boston, is now a part-time tool buyer or Liberty Tool. He also helps clean and organize all that come in, which he said is a lot.
"I can come in any Monday, and this place will be jammed with tools. I’m serious -- just hammed,” he said, standing in his small workshop.
Not all the tools are in great shape, but most still eventually make it to the store shelves.
"The stuff that comes out of here, sometimes I’ll look and say, 'That’s never going to sell.' [But] you go in next week, and it's gone,” he laughed.
The seemingly endless range of old tools, some possibly dating back as far back as two centuries, is testament to how important tools have been for generations of Mainers. The daily lives and working lives of a great many families once depended on tools, from wooden hand planes, saws, and axes to metal and stone-working tools to spinning wheels and other domestic tools. All are on the shelves and in the aisles of Liberty Tool.
The business and its buildings in Liberty are now up for sale. Sharon Simmons said the owner has realized it may be time to think about retirement. She said he is hoping to sell it all as a package to someone who will keep Liberty Tool alive.
“Skip would like it to go to someone who can continue on with the business and keep doing what he’s been doing all these years,” Simmonds said “[It's] repurposing all these tools. Instead of it going to the trash, it gets reused. A wonderful thing he’s done with his life.”
And, after more than four decades, is there a chance Maine will run out of old tools?
“Oh no, never,” Simmons chuckled. “There’s a barn everywhere, full of tools, just waiting to be found."