Alright, it is time to get this over with, I have been putting off
sending in a bio for way too long - so I'll try to keep it short and
to the point. My name is Bruce Love and I am a 40 year old software
engineer. Currently, I live right outside of Doylestown in beautiful
Bucks County, PA. I have been lurking on and off for a number of
years, but for the last year I have been keeping up pretty regularly
so it is time that I fess-up and come out from behind the bushes.
I stumbled into Galootism, mostly out of a love of both history and
"cool old gadgets." To keep this short, the biggest contributors to
pushing me over the brink of the slope are (in order): seeing some
"really cool looking wooden planes" during my first trip to
Williamsburg, a purchase of "one of those planes" at an anteek store
sometime later, discovery of a copy of Dunbar's "Restoring, Using
and Tuning Classic Woodworking Tools" at my local library (kudos
to Howard County, MD for that) and, watching St. Roy (who I
have really missed in the last four years after moving back to PA
from MD).
The arrival of my two GIT's (now 3 and 5), along with moving back to
SE PA (where I grew up), were a big drain on my time for a number of
years - but now I find myself again dreaming about tools that I still
wan...err...need and the projects I will probably never really get
around to building with them. This summer has been fun because my
GIT's (particularly the older one) have enjoyed hitting local garage
sales with me. Flea markets, on the other hand, still seem to be a
little too much for even a five year old - "Dad - How many more tables
are there? Didn't we look at these tools before? I'm getting really
thirsty"...which, when rectified, creates another problem since the
"potty" (WC, Jeff) is never anywhere near by.
Anyway my interest is primarily user tools (I keep repeating that to
myself over and over and over and over), but by Porch standards my
"collection" is a still a rather meager mixed bag. When I started
out, I was pretty much just into woodies - but I do like the #4 and #5
I recently picked up.
One of the problems with hanging around the porch is that the more I
learn, the more things I recognize and want to buy. For years I owned
a Yankee screwdriver (30) with no bits (got it from my wife's
father) - but I knew nothing about it. Then I hear lots on murmuring
about Yankee tools on the porch and suddenly my screwdriver has
some other "Yankee friends" (but still only one bit...so far). But, I
haven't been completely corrupted - I did pass on a (pretty mangled
up) Perfect Handle screwdriver for $1 this summer. Just didn't seem
a direction I was ready to head yet [okay - truth be told I am still
having second thoughts about why I didn't get it].
Finally, I want to point out that I also really enjoy hearing
problems/solutions people have encountered when using their tools. A
big part of the fun to me is learning how these tools were originally
used (and trying to do the same). In that regard, I think this list
provides a very good mix.
bruce love
- Who actually worked briefly with Bill Webber during my days in
MD...Hi Bill!
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