OldTools Archive

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18860 Wade McDonald <Wade.McDonald@l...> 1997‑05‑22 Oh my, another longo Bio
I been a lurkin' and a buyin' old tools off the porch fer a bit, guess its
about time to start a postin' too, so here goes a bio.

About a year ago we bought our first house. This provided garage
space and we didn't have much furniture, so I thought it would be a great
idea to go buy some tools, perform a few home repairs, and make some
some half decent furniture. Shoot, it might even save us some money
(ha!) So I start reading about woodworking, and reading, and reading,
until my family tells me I was just a mite obsessed. Of course I was also
out picking up every stray piece of log I could find, buying a seemingly
endless stream of tools, spending an eternity tuning each one up until it
appeared to work, spending too much time on the internet (and reading
mail) at work, rubbing rusty steel against tiny particles until all hours, and
occasionally making a shaving or some dust.

I'm 35, with SWMBO and 4 yr old daughter, living in Austin, Texas. My
weekdays are occupied at the Texas Legislative Budget Board telling
legislators how many pennies their bills will cost the state. My PhD in
mathematics rarely gets used in helping them determine how to efficiently
spend $40 billion a year.

My dad bought a r*d**l *rm s*w in the 50's and helped a bit on building the
family home. When he discovered how hard it was to make furniture
with just a R*S, he completely gave it up (pre- me), and I grew up with
absolutely no woodworking background. I did use his R*S a decade ago
to make some cheap-n-quick student furniture out of knotty pine, which
still looks okay and is somehow holding up. I have no direct Norm
influence - well I did watch him for 10 minutes once- but some of them
tools have tails.

A certain Austin Galoot has referred to me as an urban wood
scrounger- so far I have gathered mesquite, osage orange, walnut
crotch, live oak, spalted maple, spalted hackberry, and pecan crotch. So
now I have some wood (kinda green still), many of the tools I thought I'd
need (and some I'd never heard of), all I have to do is learn some
technique and design, find time, and make shavings! Oh yeah, and finish
some projects. SWMBO would like some output- I think I'm near a stage of
no more tools until X, Y, and Z are done.

Well, I have digested lots of great information from the porch and many
laughs, I'll try to reciprocate.

Wade



Recent Bios FAQ