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184231 "Phil Koontz" <phil.koontz@g...> 2008‑10‑30 Replacement bio--Phil Koontz
Hi all--

I have put off posting an updated bio for years, mostly because my old
one, which placed me in Kansas in 1998
http://swingleydev.com/archive/bio.php?message_id=35570#message

was, you know, OLD, and I sort of treasured it for the enthusiasm and
relative youth I had back then.  I had just set up my first WW shop
and bench, and was learning the ways of my first planes and chisels.
It was a good time.  Since then I have sorta degenerated in many ways,
especially in the gospel of the porch, and the purity of hand tools.
Visiting my shop now is a bit like touring some ancient ruins, with
occasional clues of former civilizations that have fallen into
decline.  The WW tools are scattered and in poor repair, the forge is
cold, the hammers and chisels in disarray, the saws mostly dull and
gathering dust.  It's embarrassing.

Since I moved to bush Alaska in the year zero, (Y2K, as they called it
for a while), I have started over on a lot of things.  Vehicles and
transportation are a whole different concept here than they were in
Kansas, because the seasonal changes are wide and definite.  A full
set of year round transport includes the ole pickup, a boat for the
water season, and sleds, skiis, snowgoes, snowshoes and such for the
winter.   That provides a lot of opportunities for wood working, of
course--making traditional snowshoes and sleds alone can be a lifetime
career, and it is for a few people.   Boats and canoes likewise.
Basket sleds are a particularly high local art form, and traditional
in the sense of thousands of years of local background.  They are all
directions that I want to go some day, but haven't gotten there yet.

Big sticks are another whole issue, and most of you have read some of
my occasional notes about logging and logwork.  I love it.  I really
do.  Since my son moved here a few years ago, we have embarked on a
plan to build a new log structure every two years, and this year
should mark the nominal completion of the third one, our new house.  I
have bored you with that story several times already, and will
undoubtedly do so again.  The log work technology is mostly of the
fire breathing monster variety, but when I get the smallest excuse to
yell the words "hand tools" I do it.

In a way, I have a lot more aspirations than ever before in my life,
and maybe that's what counts.  I've mentioned steam boats and steam
engines here several times in the past, and have had long
conversations with several of you galoots about the boat making and
metal crafts that are involved.  That's about how far the project has
gone, though.  Wishful thinking, the beginnings of gathering tools,
parts, and knowledge, the beginnings of a credible metal crafting
base.  I have a basic kit for a metal lathe--a damaged but repairable
South Bend light 10" lathe with some few basic tools.  A kit for a
propane bronze casting furnace and some casting sand.  A lead on a
junk home build mill.  A well motivated semi-business partner (Jake
the Russian) who is determined to see it all run.  Someday.  A lot of
adventure ahead.  Probably.  A lot of real motivation to make a good
infrastructure for living in the north woods.  Good neighbors who are
cooperating and helping or pushing the whole concept.

I'm getting old enough now (58 recently) that I tend to take things
slowly, to look for help with any high energy physical activities, and
to plan ahead for a less active lifestyle.  Preferably with some nice
indoor work crafting stuff on the machine tools in the shop built with
our family sawmill, local logs, and heated and powered by the locally
built steam generator.

And, one hopes, with a restored wood shop.
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