--- Bob Dehnhardt  wrote:

> Suggestions that it's all junk, and my best option would
> be to package
> it up and send it to you, will be given the consideration
> they deserve.
> 
> Thanks, all.
> 
> Bob Dehnhardt

Welcome to the 4th dimension.  It's that parallel plane of
existence that sort of is in the past, but is still in the
present, and yet also perpetually in the future, all at the
same time.  

Wipe off everything metal with an oily rag, and everything
wood with a dry rag.  Brush dust and grunge out with stuff
ranging from a paint brush to a wisk broom.  (No steel wool
or wire brushes just yet.)  Make yourself a work area,
clean and spacious enough to lay out out a corpse on.  Pick
one tool, something relatively simple, and slowly and
carefully disassemble it. Take scrupulous notes and photos
if you feel the need.  Clean everything with oil and rags. 
Observe.  Regard.  Let the "aha!" sort of soak in. 
Reassemble the tool.  

Do this with all your planes.  The wooden parts of the
planes will do very well with most things that include
beeswax.  Ditto the handles on the saws, and anything else
wood.

Sharpening is probably the first skill you'll need to
learn, and there are good books out there, and videos, to
help you down this path.  Probably the best thing to learn
to sharpen first is that 1/4" chisel.  Work from that up to
your other chisels, then your plane irons, then your saws. 
(This progression will be slow, but take your time and
enjoy it.)  

When everything's sharp, it sounds like you have yourself a
dandy tool kit.  Pull St. Roy Underhill's books down and
pick yourself a project, such as a stool or a box or
something, and go at it.  As he says it, "Take an axe and
build first one thing and then another until you have a
house and everything in it."

Keep plenty of iced tea and bandaids on hand.

All the best, 
Ryan McNabb

=====
http://www.gunstocker.com

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