OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

142408 Jim Michaels <james_a_michaels@y...> 2005‑02‑19 Jim Michaels - Bio (long overdue - and long)
Esteemed Galoots:

Since this bio is so long overdue, I have a long post;
however, for the sake of those who don’t have time to
read the novel-length version, I’ll set out the short
version first:

The Short Version:

I am a married 43-year old St. Louisan, a prosecuting
attorney,  with two great GIT’s (boys ages 6 and 7). 
I had never worked with wood at all until January of
2002, when I pulled out a workmate I received the
Christmas before and started to build a mouse table as
no such thing apparently existed (see the long version
about the mouse table).  Besides the workmutt, I had a
few chisels, a square, a hammer, a backsaw and a few
clamps, and a rusty hand plane which I wasn’t even
sure I understood the purpose of, let alone how to
work it. 

 I borrowed a copy of Peter Korn’s "Working with Wood"
from the library,  bought about 25ft of 1x2 poplar
from the borg and set out to work.  Much to my
amazement, over the course of a month of evenings, I
actually built a table!  It is rail-and-style
construction with mortised joints and a butt-joined
tabletop.  But over the course of that month, I became
immersed in woodworking.  I read every book I could
get my hands on and started learning about hand tools.
 I also discovered the Old Tools website.   When I
showed my finished mouse table to my family,
woodworking tools began to miraculously appear!

Since then, I’ve constantly been woodworking.  I’ve
learned a lot about restoring old hand tools, working
in wood with hand tools only (I don’t even own one
power tool) and finishing my projects almost
exclusively with shellac.  To date, I’ve built an oak
table and a pair of lap desks for the GIT’s, several
bookcases, shelves of various types for my wife, a
computer workstation for my dad,  and even a 5’ x11’ a
bike shed that stands next to the garage.  Much of
what I’ve learned so far I owe to the Old Tools site,
the list’O links, and  that remarkable OT archive.   

But Best of all, I have two eager GIT’s to share this
incredible pastime with.  It’s a great experience to
have your six-year-old on his own initiative go into
his room, draw a plan for a project and come back to
you saying, “dad, let’s build this...”   

Thanks Galoots, for all your wisdom, civility and
humor in your daily messages on the list.  I owe you a
lot, and hope someday to get to the point where I can
contribute to the ever-increasing wealth of knowledge
that is the Old Tools list.

Sincerely, 

Jim Michaels, an aspiring Galoot in the City of
St.Louis.

Now, the long version:

What is a mouse table?  Well, I work in an office,
primarily at a standup desk the family bought for me
(I have a hard time sitting for long periods because
of a back injury).  I had my computer keyboard on the
standup desk, which slopes upwards, with the mouse
sitting just off to one side.   Sometime around
Christmas 2001, my mousing hand became numb and I  was
developing symptoms of carpel tunnel syndrome.  I did
some research and determined that to relieve the
pressure on the carpel tunnel nerve I had to have my
mousing hand in a neutral position and sloping
downwards off to the side.  I could find no piece of
furniture that would put the mouse in that position
relative to the side of my standup desk, hence my plan
for the mouse table, which now straddles my CPU beside
my standup desk, and looks a bit like a dictionary
stand you might see in a library, except that it
slopes away from me.   Fortunately, with the use of
the  mouse table, the carpel tunnel symptoms went away
and I’ve had no further problems in the last three
years.  BTW, if anyone is experiencing carpel tunnel
symptoms, I suggest researching computer workstation
ergonomics on the web; my research suggests  that a
lot of these carpel tunnel wrist pads and other
appliances that office supply stores sell are modern
snake oil - they may even exacerbate the problem!  

But back to woodworking...   

Once I built the mouse table and expressed a serous
interest in woodworking with hand tools, Leonard
Keithly,  my wife’s venerable grandfather began
pulling out and passing along to me a collection of 
hand tools he had received  from his father-in-law, a
professional cabinet  maker, many years before. 
Leonard was a leatherworker and watchmaker, and
although he did not do a lot of woodworking himself,
he was close to his  father-in-law, and had kept his
tools as momentos as much as anything else.    He
ultimately passed along to me a number of  Craftsman
planes (4,6 and 7 equivalents), braces, auger bits, a
Stanley No. 80 scraper, a drawknife and hatchet made
by Keen Kutter, a set of assorted socket chisels with
fine hand-made hickory handles, a spokeshave, a
Stanely 9 1/2 block plane and a number of saws
(Atkins, Simmons and Craftsman),  a saw sharpening
vise, and a variety of clamps.   My wife’s grandfather
was pleased to see those old tools put to use again,
and together we enjoyed talking about  those old tools
and the various projects I was working on (sadly, he
is no longer with us, having passed away at age 85
while attending an  Army reunion - At least he went
quickly and surrounded by some of his best buddies -
those rapidly disappearing members of the greatest
generation).   

Besides the tools from my wife’s side of the family, I
went digging through my own family basement and
re-discovered what had been my great-grandfather’s
hand-built tool chest.  My great-grandfather had been
a foreman at a stove manufacturing company, but had
done cabinetry and furniture building on the side. He
was a man who literally built his own house, and my
father remembers as a little boy sitting in his shop
behind the house and watching him build furniture.  I
cleaned that sturdy old toolbox up, built a new tool
tray for it and now keep many of my tools in it.  BTW,
that first rusty Craftsman  plane I started out with
(a no. 4 equivalent)  was one of the handful of tools
remaining in my great-grandfather’s old toolbox.

Besides the tools handed down to me, I’ve been hitting
the flea markets in the towns surrounding St.Louis
with some other family members who are hard-core flea
marketeers - Turns out the rust hunting is pretty good
around here. No major gloats, but good users at
reasonable prices.

Well, the woodworking projects continue and so does
the rust hunting.   Most recently, I obtained a
Crafstman combination plane (really a Sargent 1080 - a
Stanely 45 equivalent) complete with all its cutters,
rods and stops, and, armed with a copy of
"Planecraft",  I’m learning to use it.   My next
projects will be identical Amoires for the boys’ room
- I found a good basic plan for those  in Aldren
Watson’s Furniture Making, Plain and Simple.   

Ultimately, I would like to build a complete set of
arts-and-crafts style living room furniture, and learn
to cut neater and cleaner dovetails. Oh yeah, I also
want to build a really nice recurve bow, a quiver of
arrows,  a catamaran and maybe a small cabin,  too.   
Well, those projects are a bit down the road, but I’m
hoping the GIT’s will be willing to lend a hand with
some of those. 

Regards.  Jim

		
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Recent Bios FAQ