About Moab Maverick Tools
Built around old tools worth keeping.
Moab Maverick Tools is a small vintage-tool shop focused on finding good old tools, understanding what they are, and preparing them for whatever comes next. Some go back to work. Some belong in collections. Others have earned the right to simply look good hanging on a wall. What matters is knowing the difference.
Specifics matter.
Old tools rarely arrive with instructions about what should happen next. A maker’s mark, patent date, casting number, old repair, or owner’s stamp can change what a tool is, when it was made, and how it should be treated.
That means the work usually starts with identification and research, not a wire wheel. Some tools need rust removed and moving parts freed. Some need sharpening or repair. Others need little more than cleaning, oil, and protection. The goal isn’t to make an old tool look new. It’s to understand what is there and do what the tool actually needs.
It started with a hatchet.
Moab Maverick Tools began with a simple problem: I wanted a good hatchet, and I wasn’t impressed by what a genuinely well-made new one cost.
The alternative was an old Keen Kutter. It had already survived decades of use, the quality was there, and what it needed was attention rather than replacement. I cleaned it up, put it back in working order, and somewhere along the way realized I’d found a hobby.
One tool led to another. Hatchets became planes, wrenches, saws, vises, shop tools, farm tools, and occasionally something strange enough that I had to bring it home just to figure out what it was.
That first Keen Kutter also established an idea that still guides the shop: good tools don’t become obsolete simply because they’re old. A well-made tool from fifty, seventy-five, or a hundred years ago can still be an exceptional working tool today. Sometimes all it needs is someone willing to give it another chance.
Moab Maverick Tools grew from there, one tool at a time.
Preserve the evidence.
Age leaves evidence. Maker’s marks, worn finishes, old repairs, owner’s initials, shop numbers, scratches, and dents can tell us where a tool came from and how it was used. Removing all of that in pursuit of a flawless finish can erase the very thing that made the tool interesting.
I clean what needs cleaning, remove active rust, stabilize what needs protecting, and repair what is necessary for function. Whenever practical, original finishes, markings, wear, and signs of use remain. Then I photograph and describe the result as it actually is — including the flaws.
The aim is not restoration to new. It is preservation for next.
