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John Sindelar’s Michigan tool museum will close its doors in a couple weeks when Sindelar moves his woodworking business about five miles down the road.
Sindelar is one of the most public tool collectors I’ve ever met, and he opens his amazing collection in Edwardsburg, Mich., to anyone who asks nicely. He also opens it to the public during tool swap meetings in conjunction with the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association.
But by the end of June, Sindelar’s many rooms of tools will be packed up into boxes and put into storage. Sindelar is moving his woodworking business into a smaller but more modern facility – air conditioning, epoxy floors etc. But there isn’t going to be room to display his collection, which fills several rooms behind his woodworking shop in his current location.
Sindelar has been trying to open a permanent tool museum with a dedicated building and classroom space for several years. He told me today that he’s still trying to make that happen “sooner or later.”
So if you have any research you need to do on historic tools that might have involved a trip to visit Sindelar, now is the time to get off your butt. Or if you had always planned to see his crazy-amazing collection for yourself (four words: naked mermaid bit brace), then now is the time to get off your butt and drive to Edwardsburg.
I can tell you this: No matter where you live, it is worth the trip.
You can contact Sindelar through his web site: SindelarToolMuseum.com.
— Christopher Schwarz
