The Cretan rural carpenter made all kinds of wooden objects, from floors, roofs, doors, shutters and staircases to furniture and even coffins. His tools were not as specialised as those of his urban colleagues: large and small saws, hammers, planes, files, chisels, clamps and drills.
The cobbler
This was a common craft in the Cretan countryside, where all men wore boots. These take much longer to make than ordinary shoes. The workshop of the cobbler (or “stivanas” , i.e. bootmaker) was small and contained a chair and a small table for the tools and nails used in leatherworking. Boots were made on a single piece of calfskin sewn up the back and nailed onto the thick sole with wooden pegs. The cobbler also made women’s and children’s shoes.
The saddler
The Cretan packsaddle differs from those used in the rest of Greece, because the wooden frame has slots for attaching the ropes which restrain the load. The saddle is made of a singular and very solid wooden frame, padded on the underside with leather cushions full of hay or other vegetable fibres. It is attached to the chest and rear of the animal by leather straps. The stirrups are added last.
The saddler uses a sort of chair attached to a work surface made of a thick tree trunk used as an anvil. His few tools include cutting pliers, awls and leatherworking scissors.
| 
