Old Tools Bio
Gentle Galoots,
Following a lengthly period of lurking under the Porch, I hereby offer
my bio.
Having passed the half century mark not too long ago, I still have a few
good woodworking years left in me. :) Exposure to the good natured
banter and instruction available on the Porch will surely increase my
enjoyment, and certainly my capacity, to perform woodworking.
I had the good fortune to have a grandfather and father who were handy
with, and inclined to use, hand tools. My maternal grandfather, a
marine engineer by profession, made extensive use of hand tools to
extend and outfit a seasonal residence in the Catskill region of NY.
Much of the woodworking he performed, hand built kitchen cabinets, built
in closets, etc., is still in use today by his grandchildren and
great-grandchildren. My Dad, used braces, hand saws, planes and a
variety of hand tools to construct decks, additions and such over the
years. Today, a couple of my brothers and I still use many of these
handed down tools. (Some of the tools have three generations of blood on
them!)
My grandfather's tools were not pretty, but they were well tuned and
capable of getting the job done. He was meticulous in the execution of
his woodworking. My Dad flirted with the dark side of electron
burners...some of those bad boy are still in use too.
After a senior level IT / Billing career the telephone business,
wireline and wireless, I was able to retire early (a few years before
hitting the half century mark) and get my mid-life crisis off to a good
start. Currently I am negotiating a couple of rather slippery slopes:
one with vintage autos and another with vintage hand tools. Two of the
autos, a 1926 Franklin and a 1953 MG-TD have significant wooden
structures. Fortunately, neither one has yet required any serious
woodworking. The tool slope is much more insidious, as the quantity of
acquired old tools will likely expand to fill every nook and cranny of
available space. There is always room for one more plane, brace or
saw. (My Stanley #6 planes may be breeding; there seem to be a lot more
of them than I ever remember purchasing....would it help if I left the
shop lights on at night?)
I lost SWMBO to cancer a number of years ago. Absent her good natured
restraint, my plunge down these slopes has been like a runaway Galoot
train with a full head of steam. But really, I do not have a tool
problem: I can stop any time ...
Early on, I was fascinated by watching both St. Roy and Norm. Once I
got past the eccentricities of each host and show, it became clear that
many of the woodworking fundamentals were the same, just differing in
the method of execution: A dovetail is a dovetail is a dovetail. Some
joints are just made with more noise than others. I have about an equal
number of books by each of them. If Mike Dunbar published more, I would
buy more of his stuff too. :)
Pre-retirement, when woodworking time was rather limited, tailed demons
played a much larger roll in my woodworking. Now that time pressures
are not as much of an issue, I find that hand work plays a larger role,
and I can enjoy the process of learning to use the tools and performing
the woodworking. I am particularly enamored with wood planes:
smoothers, jointers and scrubs. (Did I mention the breeding #6s?)
Watching from under the porch has been a genuine learning experience.
The wealth of experience and knowledge demonstrated by Galoots is truly
impressive. I thoroughly enjoy the good natured interplay mixed with
the practical knowledge available here. I would be remiss by failing to
tip my cap to the List Moms, who ably and even handedly maintain this list.
Regards,
Tim Pendleton
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