Paul:

The information you provide on your web site is sensible, constructive and
above all, practical. My comments were tongue and cheek.  I did not make my
point clear. There are many Galoots that always caution the rest of us to
use nothing but shellac. And God forbid we would use any glue other than
hide glue. Cleaning a tool? Never. After all, if we remove the sweat and
grime that it's original owner put there we would lose the value of the
tool. Of course that also assumes that the orginal owner never wiped down
his tools or ever made an attempt to clean them. After all, it would spoil
the patina. Like he had any concern about patina. Me thinks some Galoots
take this a bit too far.

We all clean our tools and even polish them. I have some old tools that
belonged to my Dad and Granddad. The first thing I did was remove the old
sweat. I didn't think they would mind. MJD has done pretty well it seems and
we never see dirty, grimy, sweat laden tools for sale on his site. Are we so
naive to think that all tools must remain in the "just found" condition? We
live in a real 21st Century time and just happen to like old tools. We are
not reinactors trying to live in the past. Well, most of us are not. We all
have seen the nice clean tools of the same Galoots that preach to the rest
of us that we should not ruin our tools by cleaning. If we clean our user
tools to whatever extent and it pleases us. . . great. But, if we clean the
tools to hornswaggle a potential buyer. That's another matter. I once bought
a No. 6 on eBay that was as shiny as can be. When it hit my front door it
reeked of WD40 and the wife didn't want it in the house until I gave it a
good bath in soap and water. The packing material had to be discarded
immediately it smelled so bad. I was hornswaggled by "shiny".

The helpful information on your web site is right on. Keep up the good work.
I have saved your site in my Favorites and refer to it often.  Another
helful hint. For cleaning Brass, try Mothers Mag cream that can be found at
most Auto Parts stores. Be careful with it. . . it will remove the tarnish.
(grin)

Regards,
Col. Dick Hucker (Huck)
Dyer, Indiana

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Morin" 
To: "Richard J. Hucker" 
Cc: "oldtools" 
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 12:29 PM
Subject: Re: RE: [oldtools] Bio-(and Shiney does pay)

> Hmmmm... not sure if that's a slam (not taking it as one unless I'm
distinctly informed otherwise).  I'm the first to admit I don't know
everything, heck - I'll admit I don't know nuthin' about most things.
>
> Most of the info I've cobbled together on my site (and I state it fairly
clearly) has come directly from spending a lot of time going through the
archives of the old tool group.  Most of the info has the archive number
listed with it.
>
> I only recently ran across the suggestion to skip steel wool, and use red
rubbing compound (and they distinctly state to use the red, and not the
white).
>
> I'm much more inclined to take the advice of someone from this group that
says to use the white, not the red.  Practical advice outdoes the best
'theory' almost everytime.
>
> I don't believe everything I read.  And I never use anything I haven't
tried before without testing on scrap, or something I don't care about.
>
> Wonders in the end if I completely missed your point.  At least I know
someone has visited the site though ;)
>
> paul morin
> calgary, ab
> www.cranialstorage.com/wood
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard J. Hucker" 
> Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 3:24 pm
> Subject: Re: RE: [oldtools] Bio-(and Shiney does pay)
>
> >
> > It seems that the theme is "don't do as I do, do as I say.
> > Tips on cleaning
> > http://www.cranialstorage.com/wood/html/cleaning_your_plane.html
> >
> >
> >