OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

-158 owen@d... 1970‑01‑01 Bio (long)

John Gunterman says that now I've delurked
I have to write a formal bio.  Sigh.  Well,
if there's no way out...

I'm 47 years old and working hard to:  get
used to needing two pairs of glasses; control
my weight; avoid noticing my scalp through
what used to be a lot more hair; and ignore
magazine stories about "those aging Baby
Boomers."  It ain't easy.

Never made it as a hippy.  I was too chicken
back then.  My loss.

I slept through 'Nam as well.  Probably wasn't
such a loss.

Decided to marry Janice in 1970.  Succeeded in
'83.  I out-stubborned her.  Barely.  Last time it's
happened, far as I can recall, but she manages
to justify all those years of patience.   A keeper.

Biochemistry major at a jerkwater state college.
Wound up a junior magazine editor.  Freelance
writer these last 15 years.  I've ridden that horse
just about as far as I care to, but am not yet sure
what comes next.

I never had a role model in woodworking or any
other craft and don't know where I picked up the bug.
Reading Krenov did pretty much finish me off, though.

I love fine tools.  They don't have to be old, just
wonderful.  L-N and the MofA both will make a lot of
money off me in the long run.

When my current writing project is over, I expect to
finish my shop, a shed conversion that wasn't quite
done when last winter closed in.  I've wanted it since
we moved from New York to Hancock, NH, some
ten years ago. Unfortunately, most of the summer
will go to home repairs that even I must admit have
waited too long.

I look forward to making furniture, the finest my
skills can produce.  At the moment, that's probably
a 2X-and-cement-block bookcase, but I plan to get
lots better as fast as time and talent allow.

My biggest wood project to date is a Pietenpol, an
airplane designed in the 1920s and still being made
by the dozen.  Two seats.  Model A engine.  Breeze
though your hair.  Wonderful.  "Low and slow for 70
years," as one owner's group puts it.  If anyone
here wants to try something really different, a
wooden airplane offers challenge in the construction
and joy in the use.  Mine is barely begun.  Now that
I almost have a shop, things should go faster.

I really enjoy turning.  Just a beginner, of course.
Some months back, Bill Millios read one of my
posts on rec.Norm and offered a lot of good advice
about either adding a tailstock to my shop-built bowl
lathe or building a whole new machine.  (I found the
lathe at a tag sale at a price that would be worth a
major gloat, if it weren't for the electric motor.  Just say
a lot of beautiful cherry, maple, and black walnut came
with it.)  I expect to follow his ideas this autumn.
Thanks, Bill.  Glad to find you here.

Someday I'd love one of those little treadle lathes
that Singer mounted on their sewing-machine base.
At a price in line with its utilitarian value, of course.

I have the usual fantasy of becoming a pro.  In recent
months, I've developed ideas for several lines of wood
product that I believe could earn someone a decent living.
Yesterday I came across one that's even possible at
my current level of skill.  This just might get off the
ground before my airplane does.

So many words, so little entertainment.  (I blame John
myself; given a choice, I'd just have gone back to
lurking.)  Thanks for putting up with it.

I'm glad to take a seat in an inconspicuous corner of
the porch.  It's one of the nicest places I've found in years.

Owen Davies


----------------------------------------------------------------
Private replies: owen@d...


Recent Bios FAQ