Where to begin...
I am returning to the porch after a two year absence to work on my MS thesis.
I wish I could say I am done and can now fill my life with distractions once
again, but I am still writing and I have decided to stay on for a Ph.D.. Since
I am back I guess I will post parts of my old bio and update what has changed.
My name is Roger Birkhead. I am I am a student at Auburn University, AL but I
did my field work at the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at
Ichauway
near Newton (translate to middle of nowhere), GA. My research interests are
Gopher tortoises and longleaf pine (Heart Pine) ecology. I have finally
gotten
a house complete with shop (collective cheer from all the old tools I have had
squirreled away in boxes since high school). My mother swears the house was
starting to lean towards that corner of my second floor room.
Many of my relatives on my grandfather's side were machinists and
patternmakers. The family business was the Emmerich Machine Shop in Brooklyn
NY on Flushing Ave. My grandfather had to close and sell it in the late 50's.
I am fortunate enough to have a foresighted grandfather who saved his fathers
and grandfathers tools for posterity (me :)). Over the years when I would
visit he would send me home with a plane or two in my suitcase. Imagine a 12
year old clunking through the Newark Airport with a #7 in his bag. He once
gave me a box of 30+ moulding planes (almost all marked with my great great
grandfather's name stamp D. ACKER...if you ever find one let me know and I
will gladly pay you whatever you ask for it) that he rescued from his Aunt's
firewood pile! I don't have tell you there is no feeling like placing your
hands atop the patina from your great grandfathers hands. I feel it is my
duty
to use and care for these tools; and I am glad to have found a group who seems
willing to assist me when I have questions. My grandfather died in 1996 and
the porch (whether you guys new it or not) was a great source of comfort for
me. I felt that I had not learned all that he wanted to teach me. Galoots
have more that filled that void.
I am also the proud part owner of two log structures. One an 1830's log house
(two story 18'X50'), the other a small (18'X18')1870's cabin. I am restoring
both using only hand tools. I have done everything from hewing replacement
logs and floor joists to building windows. Ahh, the smell of 150 year heart
pine. Neither is anywhere near done, but they are a great excuse to buy lots
of old tools and to use the ones I have. I also got into making canoe paddles
while working in the Adirondacks, NY. My current projects include tons of
handles for chisels, etc. that I have picked up over the years. I also want
to
build a nice oak bookshelf and a shaker style heartpine table.
In any case is great to be back and I look forward to being amongst as I often
say, "the greatest bunch of guys I have never met".
Roger
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Roger D. Birkhead
Tortoise Guy
Dept. of Biological Sciences
331 Funchess Hall
Auburn University, AL 36849-5414
(334) 844-4850
birkhrd@m...
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
|