A bit irrelevant to violins, but I got a few of the best tools that I use in my violin making from my great-uncle. He was a wagon maker in his father’s factory around the turn of 1900, and this is the type of thing he made:
This is the outside courtyard of his factory, in Toledo …
They had an opportunity at one point to sell out but didn’t really think that the horseless carriage was going to be much competition, so the family kept the factory. Probably that was a mistake.