Hello Galoots,

I have been lurking for quite a few months and read in awe every time a
new message or a response is posted. I am humbled by the extent of the
knowledge and experience found in the Archive and have realized how far
I still have go. Learning from all of you though will certainly make it
a little less painful.

From the beginning then....

I am a relatively new to woodworking. Started tinkering around the
garage with a very limited number of tools about three years back. With
two young children and a stay at home SWMBO I didn't have the disposable
income to invest in power (bad word?) tools, so I began working with the
limited number of hand tools I had. Managed to obtain more over time and
I think I have made a good start but am always on the lookout (Is that a
SLIPPERY SLOPE up yonder?). That leads me to one of the things that I
wanted to put to you galoots. I live in Oakville Ontario a suburb west
of Toronto (probably already know this from Darrell Larue)and I for the
life of me cannot find a steady source of old hand tools. Does any one
suggestions? I have gone THE online auction route but have been
disappointed in some cases. Handsaws, my latest "project" always seem to
arrive ALOT more kinked or pitted than discribed. I also seem to over
pay for them. PLEASE DO NOT TELL MY SWMBO...I always tell her it cos t
pennies on the dollar for what I really paid!!!

I thank you in advance and look forward to communicating with all of
you.

Best Regards,

Ed

Ed Paik wrote:

> I live in Oakville Ontario a suburb west of Toronto (probably already 
> know this from Darrell Larue)and I for the life of me cannot find a 
> steady source of old hand tools. Does any one suggestions? 

Here's a couple:

The Tool Group Of Canada.  Next meeting is Oct 18 at Black Creek 
Pioneer Village.  Drop me a line if you want to go.  I'll pick you 
up on my way.  There's always some tools for sale before the meeting.

The Tools Of The Trade Show & Sale.  Oct 6 in Scarberia.
Here's the flyer: http://www3.sympatico.ca/larchmont/TOTT.jpg [86k]
LOTS of tools to be had.  From homely dogmeat jack planes to
ebony-stuffed bronze infills, something for everyone.  A bunch
of us Galoots usually do lunch at a local pub, and then head 
backk to the sale for one last pass, and to jaw with the dealers
(many of whom are serious tool historians and love to talk tools
for hours on end...).

Have you joined the Halton Furniture Makers Society yet?
Our next meeting is Thursday Sept 25th, at Sheridan College.
No tools for sale, but you might make contact with a few
woodworkers who know where to find old tools, eh?

That should be enough to get you started.

Darrell

-- 
Darrell LaRue
Oakville ON
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

Thank you to you and all the others that have already provided some
great leads. They all are great suggestions and I am already itching to
start. I am afraid though. Afraid of what I can already hear..."You want
to join a What? A group dedicated to TOOLS? I don't know if it's a good
idea you associate with people like that Ed!" Little does she know she
sleeps in the same bed with one of those people every night...well
almost every night (we have a 2 month old son and a 3 year old that
thinks our bed is really his! Enough said about that).

Anyway... Thank you very much for the kind offer Darrell. I won't be
able to make the October 6th date (Too bad...If history is any indicator
some seller won't be able to move that homely dogmeat jack plane that
day!) but am interested in the October 18 meeting. I will drop you a
line later in the month to confirm.

Thank you again!

Regards

Ed

Also, I think I speak for all of us here in Canada that our thoughts
are with all the galoots and their loved ones that will soon face
Hurricane Isabel.

> itching to start. I am afraid though. Afraid of what I can already
> hear..."You want to join a What? A group dedicated to TOOLS? I
> don't know if it's a good idea you associate with people like that
> Ed!" Little does she know she sleeps in the same bed with one of

Ed...it's NOT good for you to associate with people like that.  It 
will give you too many ideas and 'needs.' :-)  

But play the game well.  That's not a group 'dedicated to TOOLS'.  
It's a group dedicated to acquiring, restoring and using old, used, 
cast-off, cheaper-than-new tools that you need to join so you can 
learn how, saving the household all sorts of money :-)

> those people every night...well almost every night (we have a 2
> month old son and a 3 year old that thinks our bed is really his!
> Enough said about that).

Been there...done that.

> Anyway... Thank you very much for the kind offer Darrell. I won't
> be able to make the October 6th date (Too bad...If history is any

I'm so jealous.

-- 
Cheers --- Larry Marshall
Quebec City, QC 

> If you're into buying saws, you might find my saw sharpening page
> useful.
> http://www.geocities.com/plybench/shop_projects.html#file_pointer

To those who have not seen it, I highly recommend the book mentioned 
in this write up.  It's the one book I've seen that covers a lot of 
jigs that aren't directed solely at power tools

Making Woodwork Aids and Devices  
Robert Wearing

-- 
Cheers --- Larry Marshall
Quebec City, QC 

Ed Paik wrote:

>Hello Galoots,
>
>...I am humbled by the extent of the knowledge and experience found in
>the Archive and have realized how far I still have go.
>
...

Don't worry.

Any group or forum (hopefully) has a greater collective knowledge than
any one of its members. An archive extends the number of members up from
the current group to anyone who's ever been in the group.

I would claim that not even the most knowledgeable galoot knows all of
what's in the archives, so don't be ashamed that you don't either.

I use the archives *A LOT*.

If you're into buying saws, you might find my saw sharpening page
useful.
http://www.geocities.com/plybench/shop_projects.html#file_pointer

Oh, and welcome to the Porch.

     BugBear

Hi Larry,

I definitely think you're on to something here...worded properly I get the
tools I really "need" and the I convince her I am settling for old, used,
CHEAPER tools and I am doing it for the good of the family. Now I get it.
That's how it's done! That's how all you veteran galoots out there able to
gloat about "another" one of these and "another" one of those you've been
able to acquire and still stay out of harm's way!

Thank you for the secret hand shake!

Regards,

Ed

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Marshall" 
To: "oldtools" 
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 7:05 AM
Subject: [oldtools] Re: A GIT comes in from the cold

>
> > itching to start. I am afraid though. Afraid of what I can already
> > hear..."You want to join a What? A group dedicated to TOOLS? I
> > don't know if it's a good idea you associate with people like that
> > Ed!" Little does she know she sleeps in the same bed with one of
>
> Ed...it's NOT good for you to associate with people like that.  It
> will give you too many ideas and 'needs.' :-)
>
> But play the game well.  That's not a group 'dedicated to TOOLS'.
> It's a group dedicated to acquiring, restoring and using old, used,
> cast-off, cheaper-than-new tools that you need to join so you can
> learn how, saving the household all sorts of money :-)
>
> > those people every night...well almost every night (we have a 2
> > month old son and a 3 year old that thinks our bed is really his!
> > Enough said about that).
>
> Been there...done that.
>
> > Anyway... Thank you very much for the kind offer Darrell. I won't
> > be able to make the October 6th date (Too bad...If history is any
>
> I'm so jealous.
>
> -- 
> Cheers --- Larry Marshall
> Quebec City, QC
>
> Archive: http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/
> To unsubscribe or change options, use the web interface:
>     http://galoots.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=oldtools
>

> I definitely think you're on to something here...worded properly I
> get the tools I really "need" and the I convince her I am settling
> for old, used, CHEAPER tools and I am doing it for the good of the
> family. Now I get it. That's how it's done! 

Absolutely, and as long as you can avoid the appearance of 
'collecting', it works very well.  

> That's how all you veteran galoots out there able to gloat about 
"another" one of

It could be how they do it but I can't claim the badge of a 'veteran 
galoot'.  I'm a newbie and to be honest, while I'm falling in love 
with collecting and working with hand tools, I truly am buying 
'users' right now as I need some good working tools.  And here are 
the economics that makes my wife just love this:

"Ok...we're going to buy a house.  Great...finally I'll have a shop 
again.  Of course I'm going to have to buy a new table saw.  
Remember, we sold mine when we sold our house in CT.  It'll cost 
$800-1000 to replace it.", says Larry.

Later, once a few galoots explain the meaning of life, Larry realizes 
that he can really get by without that 'centerpiece' in his shop and 
he's never really liked all the noise and risk associated with it 
anyway.  So...he says to his wife, "You know, if I buy a bunch of 
hand tools, I can do pretty much everything without needing to buy 
that saw."

Suddenly, Larry's buying hand tools.  Then he announces, "You know, 
they just don't make hand tools like they used to, at least the big 
companies don't...everything's being done on the cheap.  I'm going to 
look for used tools."  And I do...and bring home a $12 saw with "See, 
this is much better than the one in Home Depot for $35."  And I bring 
home a plane, "Hey, look at this...a couple hours work and it'll be 
better than those $70 planes at Home Depot and I only paid $15 for 
it."   

And so it goes, Erik and the truth is, I'm getting better tools for 
almost no money relative to what it would cost me to buy in hardware 
stores.  Last weekend I bought 4 planes, a brace, an eggbeater drill 
and a push drill.  Total cost was, I believe $75.  My wife didn't 
even bat an eye even when I said "I bought the push drill just cuz it 
was so cool." :-)

> Thank you for the secret hand shake!

[whisper mode on]...I first read about these 'techniques' on the 
Galoots website :-)

http://homepage.mac.com/galoot_9/survive.html

-- 
Cheers --- Larry Marshall
Quebec City, QC