OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

11747 Bob Lockwood <Robert.Lockwood@t...> 1997‑01‑10 Bio
I've been lurking about for a couple of months, but have neglected to 
submit a bio, so here goes.

I'm a 33 year old father of three (6 week old girl, 3 year old boy, 6 year 
old girl).  I spend most of my waking hours under the employment of 
Tektronix.  I grew up in south western VA, but relocated to OR three years 
ago after receiving my Masters of Computer Science from the University of 
VA.

I have always been interested in wood working but have never really done 
any major projects.  Over the last year, my interest in wood working has 
increased dramatically.   I have bought and read several books on wood 
working and was almost sucked into the Normy mentality.  I believe it was 
Peter Korns book that set me straight.  He compared hand tools to machine 
tools as walking is to driving an automobile.  You can get to the same 
places by walking, you can even get to some that you can't get to in a car, 
it just takes longer.

After reading his book I bought joiner and a jack plane.  I have not 
bothered to date them as I'm really not interested in how old they are only 
in how well they work.  I immediately planed a couple of pine boards just 
for kicks, and fell in love.

Christmas vacation got me started on my first "real" project.  I'm building 
the bench described by Tage Frid in Fine Woodworking in the Small Shop.  I 
have to admit that I'm using a table saw to rough cut the lumber, but I am 
hand planing every piece to width and thickness.  I would appreciate any 
pointers from others who have built this bench.  I have already rough cut 
everything except the pieces for the vises.  I have planed most of the leg 
pieces and am in the process of chopping the mortises and cutting the 
tenons now.  Of my two planes, one has a busted tote.  I currently swap the 
good tote between the two planes as needed.  I hope to resolve this 
situation shortly.

I also picked up a couple of other goodies at Christmas time:  In addition 
to getting the hardware for my new bench, I got a set of sharpening stones 
and the Veritas sharpening jig.  I also bought myself the Marples chisels 
at Costco (what a bargain). My mother-in-law who stayed with us other 
Christmas found out I got the bug, and offered my her deceased husbands 
tools.  She's sure he has a brace and bits, and some planes, but is not 
sure what else.  I'm anxiously awaiting that package!

After finishing my bench I hope to sell my benchtop table saw and buy a bow 
saw with the proceeds.  I'm sure I'll have some questions for the group as 
the bench proceeds.

Bob Lockwood

PS:  Is there a such thing as planing elbow?  I really aggravated mine one 
day after several hours of planing.  I'm hoping this is due to working on a 
bench which is to high and that when I get the new bench done this won't be 
an issue.



Recent Bios FAQ