Handy ‘Toolbox’ Host Sirena Irwin Explores History of Saws and Such (Review)
ToolBox, The History Channel series launching Saturday, delves into objects most folks take for granted, and explains them in such an interesting way, viewers will never look at their hammers the same way again.
Sure, it seems preposterous that a show devoted to the history and use of tools could intrigue, but the proof is that it can hook someone whose only association with screwdrivers are the variety that have orange juice and vodka. Host Sirena Irwin is perfect as this piped piper of pliers. An actress (viewers may recognize her as the voice of the mom on “Spongebob Squarepants”), Irwin is also an accomplished do-it-yourselfer with an infectious zeal for home improvements.
“I started doing things around my own house because if you mess up, it doesn’t matter while you are learning,” she says. The first major project she tried was building a staircase. “I thought a staircase would be simple,” she says, then cracks up at the notion. “They are all over the world. It’s a numbers-crunching thing, and the challenge is getting it right.”
Irwin is calm, reads a number of books then embarks on a project. She is genuinely delighted by what can be accomplished with tools.
“It’s the excitement of learning about the history of our civilization,” Irwin says from her Los Angeles home. “It’s becoming aware of the things that we have in our houses and have been around for so many years and are still a part of us, and we get to create with them now.”
In the pilot, Irwin takes on the saw. Given that the principle behind it is not exactly complicated, it would seem there just isn’t much left to say. Irwin, pardon the pun, puts teeth in this.
The show, as befits The History Channel, takes viewers back to 2500 B.C., when the saw first appeared in Egypt as a copper tool with a serrated edge. In the Middle Ages, saws were made from iron, but broke easily. By the late 1700s, blacksmiths learned to create stronger, lighter steel. Irwin manages to do what the best historians strive for — she makes the past relevant by explaining how what was came to influence what is.
The fact that an 1874 Canadian tool catalog introduced a new cross-cut saw that sliced trees smoother may not qualify as practical knowledge for everyone, but learning a bit more about a common construction tool does come in handy.
Irwin encourages people to tackle projects around their homes. “Building is so exciting because it makes you feel so empowered,” she says. “That is what I find so fascinating about the show. This is about the dawn of civilization. Without tools, we wouldn’t be where we are now. We have a hand in the continuation of that. That is so exciting, so wonderful — to get a true sense of the things most of us take for granted, like a hammer or a saw.”
Irwin shot eight of the 13 half-hour episodes at a woodshop in New Jersey, and the new season includes her take on the wrench, the drill, the sander and the hammer.
