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In the early 1990s there was a tool called the Mastodon Jaw Extenders made by Mastodon Tool in Portland, Oregon. They look like large, orange mastodon tusks made of aluminum alloy and could be installed on a ¾-inch pipe clamp. They essentially extended the throat depth of the clamp from about 1½ inches to 8 inches. The swivel pieces at the end of the ‘tusk’ shaped jaws accepted standard protective pads.

The jaws actually received a US patent [1] in 1995, which was an extension of a previous patent for extenders for a bar clamp [2] in 1990. Apparently the company went out of business, and nobody since has decided to build the extenders (the patent expired in 2013). There still aren’t many clamps with a 8 inch reach, so it seems like there might be a good market for it.

Further reading:

1. Peterson, D.J., US5443246, “Clamp Jaw Extender for Bar Clamps” (filed Nov.30, 1993)
2. Peterson, D.J., US4921234, “Jaw Extender for a Beam Clamp” (filed Aug.8, 1988)

There are soooooo many tools out there. Some are expensive – I mean if you are looking for power tool gifts, or hand-made tools it isn’t hard to spend two to three hundred $. I’ve tried to keep these gifts as low cost as possible, in fact many are actually more along the lines of stocking stuffers, than hard-core tools. You can also check out the 2021, 2023, or 2024 lists tool lists.

① For an aficionado of Japanese woodworking, there is no better tool resource than the original Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit, and Use by Toshio Odate. (C$40)

② The best way of removing pencil lines from wood is a sand eraser. It works better than any other, probably because it is designed to remove ink. These are typically from Japan, and the most common brands are the MONO Sand Eraser 512a, and Tombow Sand Eraser They are normally found at art supply stores (ca. C$4.50)

③ Early this year I bought the 3½” version of the Veritas Layout Square. It has imperial measurements in 1/16″ increments and a protractor scale in 1° increments. Small enough to fit anywhere, powerful enough for all those fiddly measuring jobs. They come in two smaller sizes, and some with metric. (C$22.50 at Lee Valley).

④ There is only one way to gauge the actual thickness of a board (or anything for that matter), and that is by using a caliper. There are expensive ones (from C$40 to $400 for the Starrett), but if you are looking for a stocking stuffer, look no further than the small LongLife Pocket Caliper from Lee Valley. Made of fibreglass-reinforced polyamide, it is 3″/77mm in length. (C$10.50)

⑤ It may seem kind-of boring, but simple divider storage boxes are a must for every workshop. It’s really good to be able to group like-things in one box. Better to have a box of similar fasteners than dozens of those awful little containers the fasteners come in. The best ones are actually transparent fishing tackle/utility boxes made by Plano. They come in a bunch of sizes, and are also good for first-aid kits, and storing parts for planes. (under C$10)

⑥ Some of us still like to draw things we are going to build, you know like on paper? In the workshop its just more convenient. One of the best ways to visualize something is on isometric paper which can be used to create a quasi-3D view of an object. Veritas makes their own, and its super well priced. A 50 sheet pad of 8½×11″ is just C$5.90, or a 48-page 11×17″ is C$9.50. It might be a bit big to stuff in a stocking though. (Lee Valley)

⑦ Glue, and more specifically fish glue. Yes, I know it’s odd, but its a great glue for woodworking, and its reversible. It has a long open time (90-120 minutes), and excellent heat and solvent resistance. It’s also eco-friendly because it is made from fish skins, a byproduct of the fishing industry. In Canada it comes from Nova Scotia, and can be found at Lee Valley, and Craftsman Supply Co. (ca. C$30 / 500ml) In the US you can also get fish glue from Lost Art Press, and it also comes from Canada, so I imagine it all comes from the same company.

⑧ Everyone needs tape sometime on the workshop, but what nobody wants is residue when the tape is removed. That’s where low-tack masking tape made for Luthier’s comes in. Made in Japan, it is usually found at instrument makers stores. A good brand is Kamoi Tape, and three rolls of tape is around C$10 (6mm, 12mm, 20mm all 18m in length).

⑨ Sanding by hand? So the choices of sanding block are the ubiquitous wood, plastic, and foam. But there is an alternative − cork. Natural, eco-friendly and a somewhat deformable, it’s a great alternative, and perhaps more tactile. (Sage Restoration C$9.50)

⑩ Recently I was cutting some cork tiles for by kitchen floor (8mm thick), and the problem was while they are easy to cut with a utility knife, you do have to cut them on a descent edge. Rulers are too thin, so something else is needed. One solution for short cuts, is the Shinwa 12″ Aluminum Cutting Ruler, which is 12″ in length, and has a non-slip pad underneath. (C$15.95) Note that Shinwa seems to be the king of ruler makers… their catalog has rulers for just about any application.

As an extra, if you are looking for a nice Canadian made dovetail marker, try one from Northwest Passage Tools. They have three kinds in two differing lengths, each with three different dovetail ratio’s and a saddle square. (C$64.99-74.99)

I think German planes have some cool names, and when you look at them, maybe some are better named than their western counterparts. Firstly, a plane in German is called a Hobel. Bench planes are called Bankhobel, because well, a “Bank” is a bench.

To be honest there are some English plane names that are less than ideal. The block plane is one. It supposedly derives from the task of planing a “butcher’s block”, which is somewhat prohibited in scope. The German name “hirnholtz” tells exactly what the main purpose of this plane is, end-grain. What is more interesting is that in the 1935 Kunz catalog, the name is only associated with one plane, the No.220, the other seven “block” planes are either marked as being Schlichthobel or Taschenhobel – which may actually be true to form, because many block planes are used in a smoothing role, and if small enough may be kept in the pocket of an apron.

I don’t often review woodworking books, but I felt this book really warranted it. The book is Woodworking Joinery by Hand, by Toyohisa Sugita. To be honest I wasn’t overly optimistic that I would like this book, as I tend to shy away from books that have step-by-step picture instructions. Why? Because often the pictures are poorly designed, and don’t really tell the construction story as they should. But I was pleasantly surprised because this book did it right. Toyohisa Sugita is a Japanese woodworker who began his career at age 28 building his own 8.4m cruising yacht, which took him five years to complete. He now develops woodworking jigs, and produces instructional videos on various aspects of woodworking.

Woodworking Joinery by Hand is a book all about making small items using a minimal amount of tools, and smart techniques. If straddles the line between Western and Japanese woodworking tools and techniques. The techniques in this book focus on teaching joinery skills to the novice woodworker without necessarily having to learn master freehand sawing – instead Sugita instills a technique which guides the saw using simple jigs and magnetic guides. As Japanese saws cut on the pull-stroke they have thinner blades, which produces a finer, more precise cut. Lighter weight coupled with the techniques make it easy to produce straight, square cuts.

The book is divided into three sections which deal with constructing frames, boxes, guides and jigs. Projects are arranged in a progressive manner, increasing in difficulty as the book progresses. There are seven types of basic frame, seven styles of box, a set of drawers and ten types of guides and jigs. Sugita seems to clearly understand how to explain the basics of Japanese joinery using a simple list of tools. He understands even more the importance of well-presented, informative photographs.

This is not his only book either – previous books include All About Sugita-style Saw Woodworking, (only available in Japanese) which explores Sugita’s integrated sawing technique. The author uses basic tools to build tables, chairs, and a workbench. His new book, The Complete Router (to be released in 2025) provides tutorials and tips for using trim routers to accomplish many of the tasks performed by standard routers (ISBN 9781784946982). Toyohisa lives in Tokyo, Japan.

The book and the jigs/tools used in it can be found for woodworkers in North American’s on the The Woodworking Minimalist, and the book is available from Lee Valley and all good resellers.

It’s funny when you watch a sci-fi movie, because sometimes there is a prop which just seems a little out of place, usually because something doesn’t mesh with how it’s been built. Yes, I know, it’s only a movie – but sometimes it’s the little things that matter. In Star Wars The Force Awakens there is a poster with Rey holding her staff, and there in plain sight is a Philips-head screw drive. Does this subliminally tell us that there is a link between the SW galaxy and our own? Maybe.

The bigger question of course, is why, of all the types of screw drives available did they have to use a stock standard Philips-head in making a prop? There are many, lesser known tamper-resistant type screw drives, that would look way cooler. Perhaps a Tri-wing or Tri-point? Anything but a Philips. It may be one of the worst types of screw drive ever designed. And then you have to ask yourself, if there is a galaxy far, far away would they use fasteners similar to ours? Are there concepts for fasteners we haven’t yet developed?

There was a time a few years back when there was a lot of discussion online, people wrote about woodworking on blogs, there were some good magazines around, and the occasional instructive video. But in the past five years things seem to have changed, and I would add not for the better. Maybe people have said all they have to say?

Let’s start with magazines. There were once some good woodworking magazines, I’m thinking Woodworking Magazine, and even Popular Woodworking (the early years). It hasn’t been a good decade for woodworking magazines, many good magazines have fizzled out – the remnants are perhaps the few British magazines like Furniture & Cabinetmaking. This year The Woodworker Magazine () has called it quits this year, as has the popular Quercus Magazine ( issue 21 was the last). Maybe the best ones left are Mortise & Tenon Magazine (), dedicated to hand tool woodworking, and Australian Wood Review (). Fine Woodworking (FW) is a reasonably good magazine, but I find there are years it varies between really good content, and somewhat frou-frou builds, which seem to be geared towards 2% of woodworkers. A novice woodworker might pick up a copy of FW and be somewhat overwhelmed. I recently picked up some 1980s issues from a Little Free Library, and the articles were honestly really good, some quite classic, and those magazine were an exceptional woodworking resource.

The reality is that magazine publishing is no longer what it once was. Magazines of any sort aren’t exactly affordable anymore, and it’s honestly easier to borrow them from the library (a paper copy of FW in Canada is C$15). I understand that it’s not cheap to actually make magazines – but the content has to be interesting and relevant in order for people to buy it. It may also be the lack of independent publishers left in the woodworking space. Large commercial publishers usually want to cut corners to save money, which often results in less-than-compelling content. Maybe with videos the market for woodworking magazines just doesn’t exist anymore? Or perhaps “content” is now meant to be free? But it is possible that simple things like reduced advertising have killed magazines – any 1980s copy of FW had a litany of advertisements, but the rise of the internet has lead to ad revenue drying up.

Magazines are great because you can’t go past someone who can actually write a good, knowledgeable article. Now I haven’t included books here because there has always been a lack of good woodworking books being published. When spoon carving was popular, about a dozen books were published, most actually very good, but on the whole the woodworking genre is lacking – and if it wasn’t for Lost Art Press the genre would be almost be a bit of a void. Many books offer a simple introductory stance to woodworking techniques. Where are the informative books on constructing simple mid-century modern-type furniture? Or the books on simple Japanese woodworking techniques? (Hint, there is one – Woodworking Joinery by Hand)

What about blogs? To many the blog genre may be over, but I think it still provides a good platform for providing detailed information – something videos don’t do as well. But the amount of people writing articles has diminished over the years. Perhaps this is again due to the rise of woodworking video-bloggers. Exceptional blogs include those of Paul Sellers, giant Cypress, and Wood and Shop. One issue I have is content that disappears behind paywalls. I have no issue with people making an income, but one of the reasons to write a blog is to make content accessible to everyone.

Some traditional bloggers have transitioned to doing more video-style blogging, and I do understand it – as a craft, woodworking techniques are sometimes easier to comprehend in a visual manner. I don’t have a problem with video-blogging as a whole but there are a couple of things that I find annoying. The first is woodworking YouTubers that morph into tool-resellers. I’m not going to mention anyone in particular, but if you have watched YouTube you know who they are – they sometimes end up with their own tool brand, and almost every video becomes a marketing opportunity. I get it, people need to make a living, but sometimes I find it somewhat disingenuous (I would be less critical if they made solid, inexpensive, beginner-type tools, but they rarely do). There are really good woodworking YouTubers though – Rex Krueger, Matthias Wandel, Scott Brown Carpentry, Shoyan Japanese Carpenter, and Stumpy Nubs, to mention but a few. The best YouTubers are often those that build things with limited tools, and only review tools they paid for themselves. That’s not to say a workshop with a lot of tools is bad, because it isn’t – all workshops accrue tools over time.

Sometimes information is just hard to find when it comes to woodworking. I doubt magazines will ever recover (not even e-magazines), they are just too financially untenable. Perhaps the golden age of magazines, and perhaps even blogging has past. But I strongly urge anyone who wants to share their knowledge on any topic to start writing a blog.

Current magazinesDefunct magazines Furniture & Cabinetmaking (GMC)
Woodworking Crafts (GMC)
Woodturning (GMC)
Mortise & Tenon Magazine
Australian Wood Review (Yaffa)
Fine Woodworking (AIM)
Popular Woodworking (AIM)
ShopNotes (AIM)
Woodshop News (AIM)
Woodsmith (AIM) Traditional Woodworking 2007 (becomes British Woodworking)
Woodworking Magazine 2004-2009 (merged into Popular Woodworking)
British Woodworking 2014
Woodwork 2014
American Woodworker 1986-2014 (merged into Popular Woodworking)
Good Woodworking 2018 (merged into The Woodworker)
Living Woods Magazine 2022
Quercus Magazine 2023
The Australian Woodworker 2023
The Woodworker 1901-2024
Woodworker’s Journal 2024

Further reading:

• Woodworking Magazines in the British Commonwealth
• Woodworking Magazines in the U.S.

I don’t know if these tool lists get any easier to make, because I don’t really want to add any really expensive tools (and there are lots of them). You can also check out the 2021 or 2023 tool lists.

① A Stainless Steel Precision Square, from Jessem Tool Company. These are available in both metric and imperial markings with three sizes each (6″,8″, 12″). They have Flex-Tabs which help grip surfaces, a balancing tab, and a tolerance of 0.002″ over the length of the blade. Laser cut and engraved, it can be realigned if required. (6″ square C$103.99)

② Writing on dark woods can be challenging, and sometimes it is best to have a different coloured pencil, like yellow or white. A good solution is the Pica-Dry Mechanical Pencil, (No.3030) which comes with 8 water-soluble leads, and has an integrated sharpener. The pencil comes with black, yellow and red leads that can be erased with a damp cloth. Replacement leads include a choice of water-soluble or water-resistant, or H hardness for fine markings. An excellent present for any woodworker. (Lee Valley C$27.50)

③ Know someone that needs a good carving tool? How about trying Stryi Carving Tools from Ukraine . You can buy them from Stryi directly, or in Canada from Northwest Passage Tools. They make carving knives, hook knives, gouges, and palm carving tools.

④ There are any good chisel manufacturers out there, but some are probably a little expensive for the novice woodworker. A good compromise are Narex Chisels from the Czech Republic . They offer bevel-edged, mortise, skew, and corner chisels. Generally made of chrome-manganese steel (Rc59), they also offer the Richter series made of chrome-vanadium steel (Rc61-63). In Canada you can buy them at Northwest Passage Tools or Lee Valley. A set of 4 premium chisels (6/12/20/26mm) costs about C$83.

⑤ For someone doing a lot of stock removal, there are excellent Japanese mill-tooth files (mostly made by Iwasaki). Their teeth are milled into the surface of the file which creates hundreds of curved blades resulting in the material being shaved off. There are flat, bent, and half-round options. The flat files, which are very versatile come in medium, fine, and extra-fine options. Available from Lee Valley in Canada. (A flat, medium 10″ file is C$34.50).

⑥ Angles can be a hard thing to set, so a device that allows any angles from 0° to 60° in 1/2° increments to be set, and common dovetail angles is pretty neat. The Veritas Bevel Setter is available in both imperial and metric options for C$47.50 at Lee Valley.

P.S. I notice Lee Valley Canada still carries some of the original Crucible Bevel Monkey (0° to 50° in 0.5° increments) for C$54. They have been replaced by a brass version.

⑦ Can anyone really have enough rulers? Probably not. One type of rule which is good to have is an edge rule – it simplifies the transfer of perpendicular lines from face to edge. A set of four imperial rules (6″, 12″, 18″, 24″) costs C$69.50 (also metric, and available individually). They also have shop aluminum rules and bench rules.

⑧ I really like the toolboxes from Japanese company Toyo Steel Co. Ltd. They are made of steel in Japan , and come in a wide range of styles (trunk, camber-top type and cantilever types) and colours. They are useful for lugging tools about, or storing hobby supplies. I use a Y-350 for wrenches and pliers. There are various places to find them in Canada, including Fendrihan and Old Faithful Shop. In Toronto you can pick one up from Tiny’s General Store (as well as a good latte!) at 80 Barton Ave.

⑨ When you are sharpening a blade, it’s important to be able to confirm the angle of a tool, or check that the correct angle is being applied. There are a number of gauges on the market to achieve this harrowing task – the Veritas Bevel Gauge (, brass, 15° to 45° in 5° increments, C$13.90), the Blue Spruce Toolworks Sharpening Square (, stainless steel, 20° to 45° in 5° increments, US$44.99), or perhaps a Richard Kell bevel gauge ( brass, 15° to 35° in 2.5° increments, 45°, 60°, 120°, US$18)?

⑩ Since I last wrote about Camellia oil about 10 years ago, it has become more commonly used, both in relation to woodworking tools, and knives. Camelia oil is made by cold pressing the seeds of the wild Camelia Japonica flower. It helps stop rust, and is also food safe. The best is one of the original, KUROBARA, which you can find at Tosho Knife Arts (C$25, 245ml), or from Gardener’s Kit as an oil and dispenser (C$32, 100ml).

I grew up with Swiss Army knives at home. My father and grandfathers were all in the Swiss Army, so the knives were ubiquitous at home. But not the red plasticky type ones, the real Swiss Army knives with the handles made of aluminum and four basic tools. There were two of them, and they always came with us, be it for camping or walking. I think in all those years they were never once sharpened. The fancier knives, with a myriad of tools attached were never really a thing. Sure a corkscrew was nice for picnics, but it wasn’t really practical for anything else.

The soldiers version of the Swiss Army knife likely had its origins in the tools used to maintain and disassemble the Swiss Army’s Vetterli rifles, in use from 1869 to 1889. In 1889 they introduced a new rifle, the Schmidt–Rubin (M1889), which also required a screwdriver to disassemble for cleaning. So the Swiss Army decided to purchase a folding pocket knife for its soldiers as part of standard issue. At the same time, canned food was becoming a common ration, hence the need for a can-opener.

(Soldiers’ pocket knife) The Federal Council’s decision regarding the introduction of the pocket knife (also a screwdriver for the 1891 rifle model and a can opener) for our militias is as follows: 1. Adoption of the model with four blades. 2 Free distribution to recruits as an item of equipment. This knife, like cartridge pouches, waist belts and other items, is procured by the federal government itself and distributed to the cantons for the recruits or to be distributed in kind to those enlisted. 3. The option for the enlisted men to keep the old screwdriver when exchanging their rifle or to receive the soldier’s knife for 1 franc in exchange for it. 4. Note of the knife distribution in the service booklet, proof of possession of the same at every official inspection, payment of the full price if a second distribution is made. 5. Equal treatment of special weapons with the infantry. 6. Delivery to the officers on their request also at the price of 1 Fr.

A notice announcing the soldiers pocket knives from Allgemeine Schweizerische Militärzeitung, Nr.6, Basel, Feb.7, 1891.

The resulting knife was designated the Model 1890, and had a blade, reamer, can-opener, screwdriver, and a handle made of dark oak wood. The initial order was for 15,000 knives, which was beyond the production capacity of any Swiss company, and so they were manufactured by the German company Wester & Co. from Solingen.

The company which would later become Victorinox started life in 1884 by Karl Elsener (1860-1918) in the town of Ibach in the Swiss canton of Schwyz. In 1884 Elsener he opened KARL ELSENER Messerfabrikant to manufacture knives and surgical instruments. Elsener began production of the Model 1890 in 1891.

Elsener was not really satisfied with the design of the knife. In 1896, Elsener created a design in which tools were attached on both sides of the handle using a spring mechanism which allowed multiple tools to be attached using the same spring. The original soldiers knife was rather heavy and so Elsener designed his first folding knife, an officers model, patented on 12 June 18971 as “The Officer’s and Sports Knife”, and featured a second smaller cutting blade, corkscrew, and wood fibre grips (although this was never part of any Army contract, and the patent number seems to be missing).

I’ve always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with those wee red knives.

Billy Connolly

In 1893, the Swiss cutlery company Paul Boéchat & Cie (which would later became Wenger), received its first contract from the Swiss military to produce Model 1890 knives. It was situated in Courtételle in the Delémont valley in the Canton of Jura. In 1908 the Swiss Government agreed to buy half its knives from Victorinox, and the the other half from Wenger. While Victorinox laid claim to being the “Original Swiss Army Knife”, Wenger touted itself as the “Genuine Swiss Army Knife”. Interestingly, research shows that there were other manufacturers, for example some of the 1901 versions of the knife were made by Anton Stadler from Zug.

In 1909, Elsener provided all pocket knives with the emblem that is still used today (a shield with cross). In the same year his mother Victoria died. He named the factory after her and soon added “inox” (French for inoxydable, rust-free), to the name Victoria, and “Victorinox” was born. Prior to this, knives were marked ELSENER.

How was the knife branded as the ubiquitous “Swiss Army Knife”? Early on the soldiers knife was primarily a tool used by soldiers, and “Swiss Army Knife” was a term coined by American soldiers post-WW2 who had difficulty pronouncing the German name “Schweizer Offiziersmesser”, or the Swiss-German term for a pocket-knife, “Sackmesser” (German Taschenmesser).

In recent years the Soldier’s Standard Issue knife has been updated, for only the fourth time in 120 years. The metal handle was replaced by a dual density handle, and more implements were added. The standard blade has been replaced by a one-hand serrated locking blade, and a Phillips Screwdriver and wood saw have been added. Wenger was acquired by Victorinox in 2005, and the company makes an incredible range of different knives. My favourite Swiss army knives are those with the least amount of tools.

1 Searches on both the German patent database, and the Swiss Historical Patents database do not show any patents related to Elsener’s officers knife. There is however a 1894 patent for a “Device for cutting cheese into measured portions“.

• Swiss Army Knife Identification
• SAKWiki – Swiss Army Knife Encyclopedia
• Les couteaux du soldat de l’armée suisse – a compendium of Swiss Army soldiers knife variants

“When not convenient to obtain ready-sawed lumber from the dealer, the carpenter can play sawyer, and with a saw two feet in length and often over one foot wide, he can easily rip an old water-soaked cedar log into boards and strips. Where Western men working in lumber think it necessary to season it as soon as possible, in Japan splendid cedar logs are kept anchored in large rafts along the rivers or in ponds for years. Thus the wood retains its natural colour and beauty – this none will doubt when examining the lovely interior woodwork of the high-class dwellings, planed to a fault, but never painted and rarely oiled.”

By Nippon’s Lotus Ponds; Pen Pictures of Real Japan, Matthias Klein pp.195-196 (1914)

We have two kayaks, which are stored outside on a large privacy wall in my backyard. When we first bought them, I bought two sets of standard kayak racks – and they worked, for a while anyway. Because most of these racks are made of painted steel, there is a point where they start to rust, and fall apart. The last thing I wanted to do was buy another set of mediocre racks. The problem is that there aren’t really any good kayak racks that are made for outside locations. Powder-coated steel, has a short lifespan, usually about 3-4 years in a cold climate, and wooden racks have to be maintained.

I investigated at a number of solutions – construct the racks out of 2×2″ Ipe, or 1.5″ copper pipes – all of which had limitations of one form or another. I found a nice stainless steel set of kayak racks from a company in the U.S., but 2 sets would have cost me C$600 with shipping and taxes.

The solution I chose was to construct the kayak racks out of 1″ metal electrical conduit, using connectors from Maker Pipe. Using this approach I could easily construct racks that mimicked the shape of the existing racks. For each end of the set, I ordered one Top Rail T Connector, two Adjustable Angle Flanges, and a Conduit End-plug. I liked these connectors, because essentially the only tool needed to connect them is a 5mm hex wrench. The electrical conduit is easily obtainable from any DIY centre (and for some reason, I already had more than enough 1″ conduit lying around).

Two pieces of 1″ conduit are required for each end of the rack. The diagonal is 23.5″ long, while the brace is 7″ long. The two adjustable angles flanges attach the brace and diagonal to the wall. The Top Rail T Connector connects the brace to the diagonal. Note that all connectors have a holes on the side which could be used for a split pin, or a self-tapping screw.

When installed, I used some neoprene pipe insulation as a temporary cushion on the diagonal and brace, until I can find some more appropriate neoprene material.

The great thing about these DIY racks is that you can really modify them to fit your particular needs. Perhaps using an Adjustable Angle Hinge Connector to join the diagonal and brace to provide different angles. The connectors are made of steel, and have a corrosion resistant coating, and like metallic electrical conduit, I imagine they will last for years. In the future I may put the lower rack onto hinged back-plates to allow them to be folded out of the way (the wall is along a walkway).