Grandpa’s hammer might be the one you use to build your kid’s first birdhouse. Tools carry hands across generations.

An object that passes through several pairs of hands links people who never met. The same hammer in a grandfather’s grip and then in yours turns three separate lives into one continuous line of work. That is a simple form of inheritance and the easiest kind to keep going.

Use something inherited for an actual job instead of storing it safely. Then tell whoever is younger whose it was before it was yours.