OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

165018 Kirk Eppler <eppler.kirk@g...> 2006‑11‑21 Bio Update Kirk Eppler
OK, time has com to update the bio. In honor of the upcoming 
galootaclaus campaign, I thought I should close 6 years worth of gaps.

I lurked on the main list since 1999, and I’ve been on the Bay Area 
Galoots list since early 2000, and finally got exposed to the light of 
day at Roger Van Maren’s BAGathon (Sept 2000). Since then, I’ve attended 
every BAGathon but 2003?, and loved every one. Met some great galoots, 
saw fantastic tools and projects, and learned great new ways to do 
things. I officially subscribed to the list in Oct 2000.

No real fond WW memories from early on, my first memorable WW task was 
to blow the sawdust away from a cut Dad was making with a ji#$aw. I 
failed at that, and it’s been a bumpy road from there.

Fast-forward 25+ years, I’m a homeowner, and have tried to do a few 
projects with others’ p$%^r tools, mostly a disaster. Over the last 
couple of years, I have acquired a few of those skeletons that are not 
discussed in the polite company here on the porch for fear of offending 
delicate ears (or eyeballs, as the case may be).

After acquiring said skeletons, I quickly discovered that planes could 
be my friends to repair my foul ups created by said skeletons, but I 
went about it in kind of a hard way. Knowing squat about WW, and less 
about hand tools, I began to surf the net on my lunch breaks, and found 
a few nifty sites. Badger Pond and WoodCentral both kept referring to 
some place called the Galoot’s list. (I still miss Badger Pond, and 
still check the archives disk occasionally) I started by buying a new 
Record #5, and I was hooked. From the vast knowledge of the Internet, I 
learned tuning a plane, Scary Sharp, plane typing & electrolysis. I’ve 
bought a few old block planes, a herd of old bench planes (3-7, in 
various flavors, with only a few duplicates), a few specialty planes 
from LV, LN and HNT Gordon new when I didn’t think I could find or 
afford them used, some Knight woodies, and some old woodies as well. 
Have a basic core of saws, braces and bits, Yankee screwdrivers and 
drills, mitre box and miter machine. I bought a Veritas bench since I 
couldn’t find the time to build my own. I also bought an old cabinet 
from the recycle yard to store tools over the bench, and its now bulging 
at the seams.

I joined PAST a few years back to help expand my knowledge base a little 
more, and meet a few more bad influences. Get together with a few BAGs 
every so often at other events, sometimes just saying hey as we both 
ogle some tool.

I previously completed a coffee table and an end table using a mix of 
power and hand tools, finished using Jeff Jewitt’s mission style finish. 
Started work on a round table in a similar style, and put that on hold a 
few years back to deal with moving and getting a new house up to livable 
condition. Hope to get back to it soon, replacing many of the power 
techniques with some newly acquired molding planes.

My current woodworking is to buy an old tool, preferably cheaply, get it 
tuned up, and actually use it to take shavings off some scrap board I’ve 
got laying around. I’m greatly improving my edge jointing ability in 
doing this, but not producing much.

I’ve started working on installing a tool chest underneath my bench, 
since the herd of longer planes is hogging all the prime space in the 
overhead cabinet, displacing some of the specialty planes that don’t 
stack well. I’m pairing up with a Normite friend, building two cabinets 
at once, similar layouts, trying to nudge him toward the slope every 
chance I get. We’ve got the carcasses finished, and some of the drawers 
glued up, still have to make the drawer faces.

My tools get loaned to my buddy a lot, often with a quick demo. I just 
“talked” him out of buying a joiner after loaning him my Knight scrub. 
Right now I’m trying to get him to buy the bandsaur so I can come over 
and use it. I give him excess tools, sharpen the occasional garage sale 
finds, and just gently herd him toward the wonderful view at the top of 
this slope.

Due to the still ungodly high real estate prices here in the Bay area, 
my shop is either in the driveway, or a corner of my garage. The garage 
is where the Veritas bench resides, and shavings pile up on the floor. 
The previously mentioned skeletons usually get dragged to the driveway 
since they aren’t housebroken, and often leave messes on the floor. 
Currently we’re working in the garage due to inclement weather, but need 
to finish the project during the holidays. Will set up a page at 
Wiktor’s soon, showing where my wood butchering gets done, and a few 
projects. Fortunately, the new garage has some extra space in front of 
where a car should go, so I don’t feel too bad about commandeering that 
space.

Presently living in Half Moon Bay, CA, a rural town about 25 miles south 
of the San Francisco border, about 45 minutes north of San Jose, right 
on the ocean. Still having to deal with lots of rust and wind and 
peeling paint and gopher problems. I’ve got my daughter trying a 
comparative study on rust prevention for a science project at school, 
but will probably need to repeat it with a little longer exposure window 
to see where rust occurs inside cabinets and such.

Thanks for sharing the bandwidth and the information. And as always, a 
“Job Well Done" to all the list Moms, both past and present. Thanks to 
Jim E at GIC, Wiktor, Rob Weber and others for providing resources for 
the common good, and to everyone who supplies info, inspiration and 
humor here on a daily basis.

10-27-00 (updated 11/21/06)

-- 
Kirk Eppler in Half Moon Bay, CA
Process Development Engineering
Eppler.Kirk@g... 

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Recent Bios FAQ