OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

107085 "David Clapp" <davidclapp@h...> 2002‑06‑07 Bio and a question
I’m David Clapp and am hopping on the Porch after lurking for a while.  
(Actually, I've been trying to post a bio for a few weeks ago, but the list 
server migration keeps thwarting me!)

I live outside of Chicago and work in the loop in the commercial real estate 
business.  I’ve always enjoyed making things and working with tools, though 
in the past this has been more “carpentry” than “woodworking”, except for a 
few Bartley kits.  One of my brothers is a wooden boatbuilder in Maine, 
doing gorgeous work, and several years ago he sent me a box of old tools to 
replace some things I lost in a house fire.  (btw, he makes beautiful oars 
for anyone building one of those Adirondack guide boats mentioned recently). 
  I’ve really enjoyed the feel of tools like the R. Groves & Sons 6ppi 
crosscut that he gave me.  Having thought that I’d like to do more cabinetry 
type projects, I started looking into t*ble s*ws, b*nd s*ws, r**ters and the 
rest, and when I added up the potential bill (I’m basically a cheap old 
Yankee from New England) I decided it wasn’t in the cards.  Then last fall I 
had some time to kill downtown one Saturday, and I stopped by an anteek 
store that was moving and had old tools out back.  I came away with a 
Siegley #7, a Bailey #4, marking gauge, brace with some huge RJ and Greenlee 
bits, a nice Interlox wood rule and a few other things for thirty-two bucks. 
  After I finally learned a little about sharpening a plane blade, I took 
the 7 to the top of my basement workbench, which was an unusable mess of 
twisted 2x6’s.  Wow!  These things actually work!  I’ve been bottom-feeding 
on e**y (with inconsistent results) and hit a couple flea markets to make a 
pretty good basic user set and recently finished a Shaker style quilt rack 
out of maple just in time for Mothers Day.

Somewhere between the time I realized I’ve got 16 saws and when I started 
thinking I really NEED a 3 and a 6 to fill the “gaps” in my bench plane rack 
(4,5,7,8), I found Tom Price’s page and the Porch and now there’s no looking 
back.  I really appreciate the generosity and enthusiasm of this community.

My SWMBO is a wonderful woman who vacillates between amusement and concern 
that I’ll hurt myself.  My two boys are a senior and a freshman in high 
school.  They’re both into classical music pretty heavily and some 
discussions on the Porch about “users” and “collectors” of old tools have 
interesting parallels when thinking about old instruments.  My older guy is 
a cellist and his piano trio practiced at our house all year, right over my 
basement workshop.  Planing away to Beethoven’s Trio in C Minor or Dvorak’s 
“Dumky” is livin’ large.  As some skills progress, I’m planning to make a 
nice sheet music storage chest for him.

I’ve got a question.  A little while back there was some talk about using 
aluminum foil instead of a battery charger for derusting by electrolysis.  I 
tried it and I thought it worked pretty well, at least better than anything 
else I’ve tried.  Then someone who knows what he’s doing says it ain’t so 
great; the speed thing doesn’t impact me because I can throw a few things 
into the tank and I’m not going to be back for a few days anyways, but he 
said it didn’t do as good a job.  OK.  So I get out the battery charger and 
find a piece of stainless for the anode.  Now the problem is that my charger 
has a safety feature that keeps it from putting out current unless there’s 
at least some juice in the battery – the clamps won’t spark if you touch 
them together.  I’ve been looking around for a less safe charger and can’t 
find one.  So the question is:  does the charger really work better if 
you’re not in a hurry, and, if it does, where can I get one?  Thanks.

David Clapp

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Recent Bios FAQ