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Recent Bios FAQ

-445 lew@h... 1970‑01‑01 BIO: My Metamorphis

Hi, my name is Lyman Lew and I`ve been lurking in this mail group for a
few weeks now. I like to give thanks to those who have answered my
questions in caring and identifying my hand tools. Many thanks to Don
Boyer and Chuck Zitur for solving the mystery of my HS&B #903 plane. It
was a good find and I enjoy using it.

Oh yes, a little backround about myself. I am a mechanical engineer for
Hughes Space & Comm. I spend most of my time designing satellite
appendages with a CAD computer. My hobbies recently have been
woodworking, hunting for "things" at garage sales and flea markets,
collecting 50's Scandinavian furniture and glass, and building and
flying radio control/controline models. I seriously got into
woodworking 8 years agowere of my tools were of the automated kind.
I've built 50's style furniture, turned bowls, made boxes, etc. My
current projects are converting a surplused school drafting table into
a jeweller's workbench, building cigar humidors and jewelery boxes for
the next hometown fair.

My SWMBO is my partner in our hunt for tools and such. She is on the
look out for silversmithing and metalworking tools and I'm out on the
prowl for bargains or user handtool. One of these days I'll have to
restore the hardness on the anvil she bought that I ruined with my b*lt
s*nder. You know, the boss was right when she told me I should have
polished the dang thing by hand. Ahh the curse of the tailed
apprentice.
  
For the last couple of months or so, I have been acquiring quite a few
tools of both the manual and automated variety. I have to admit that I
get more excited after buying my Stanley #113 and #151 (the seller kept
noting the heart shape logo on the blade but it was still less than a
new one) last month at the flea market than plunking down 2 bills for a
b*lt s*nder. Before all this hunting, my woodworking handtools consisted
of:

    Austin Craft razor plane for balsa work
    A couple of Stanley trim plane for model work
    Assortment of X-acto tools and plane
    Some cheap Stanley and hand-me-down Craftsman chisels
    Hand-me-down #4 Stanley Defiance
    Japanese pull Saw

After my wife got me hooked on garage sales and flea markets, I've
ended up acquiring all kinds of tools. Here is a list of just planes
alone:

    #71 Stanley Router plane - Gotta find the other two blades.
    #78 Craftsman rabbet plane - Hah, just found a new fence rod for it.
    #90 Stanley Cabinet plane - Ahh wonderful little plane!
    #444 Stanley Dovetail Plane - It needs a fence but boy is it weird!
    #113 Stanley Circular Plane - I gotta try this one out! It's mint.
    #120 Craftsman Block Plane - Love this baby. It's been tuned!
    #220 Stanley block planes - got two of these for rough work
    #3 HS&B (#903) smoother for fine work - Neat and it's not a Stanley.
    #4 Great Neck/Corsair - set for rough work but a good user.
    #4 Stanley (pre 60 I think) -set for fine work and it works just fine.
    #5 Stanley Defiance - set for rough work and that's all it'll ever do!
    #5 Stanley Two-tone - set for fine work (Hmm, comfortable)
    #6C style Fulton jack/jointer Plane - massive
    #151 Stanley spokeshave
    Unknown Stanley spokeshave w/ adjustable mouth
    A pair of Japanese planes with mallet - Amazing performance
 
I use the Scary Sharp method to keep most of my tools in tune. This
alone has made the difference in my enjoyment in using hand tools.
One of the best reference book I've used in restoring my bench planes
is on "Chisels and Planes"  from Taunton Press, publishers of FWW.

As you can tell, I'm definitely a user. As my plane cccollection grew
I thought that having two of everything would be...you know...practical.
One plane for rough work and the other for finishing. The next thing
I know, I'm bringing home a beautiful circular plane that's too good
to pass up and yet I haven't a clue to where I can use this since 
everything I build is flat or angular. Well, Don Boyer pointed it
out to me that I've probably crossed that line since I'm now inquiring
the origin of some of my finds.

Don, ya have smoked me out! Now I gotta get my hands on Roger 
Smith's book. I'm gotta to hunt down that Swedish smoothing
plane that I passed up at last month's flea market. I thought
it was too impractical and too high. 

Ooooh, I hope its still there.............

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Recent Bios FAQ