Gentle Galoots,

I have been lurking here for over two years. During that time I have had
private exchanges with many and have come to know many of you from
reading your posts these many months. One of my 2010 New Year's
Resolutions was to publish my bio to the group. I hate to leave things
to the last minute, maybe the last hour or two, but not the last minute.
The time has come for me to finally crawl out from under the porch and
set a spell, and complete at least one of this year's Resolutions. Count
on me to jump in the discussions and cloud the issues just as they seem
to be clearing. I just turned 60, which puts me at the mean, median and
mode of the group, as we're all a year older since the survey. I am
mostly a self-taught do-it-yourselfer who is trying to learn to be a
decent woodworker and gain enough skill to no longer need to buy caulk
by the case for final finish work. I am a retired chemical engineer and
married to a wonderful woman who owned her own table saw, tool boxes,
router and workbench when I met her. I learned to plumb, wire, plaster,
paint, roof and dig deep holes while still in high school and my parents
bought a fixer-upper home. After school, I spent several years improving
those skills on my very own fixer-upper. Back in the 70's I got
interested in muzzleloading, and am a former member of Crockett's
Battalion, Brigade of the American Revolution and now a buckskinner
reenacting a later era. I've built a few muzzleloading rifles, and have
a couple setting around in parts I'll get to one of these days. I do a
little forge work now and then and sew some leather once in a while.
Jack of all trades, master of none, but interested in everything. SWMBO,
my chief partner in all projects, is also a history buff and a former
member of the cannon crew at the Vicksburg Military Park.

My interests have moved from DIY to furniture building in recent
years. I've subscribed to many of the usual mags for years. I joined
the local club (www.wwch.org) which helped a great deal About 5 years
ago one of the members of the woodworking club started a splinter
group (I'll pause here while all y'all recover from the woodworking
humor) that specialized in hand planes. Like a clueless newbie, I went
to the very first meeting, not realizing he was greasing up an awfully
slippery slope.

The splinter group started as a classic example of the blind leading the
blind, but got better each time one of us learned how to do something
correctly, then showed the others. We pretty much used up every topic on
hand planes, then changed the name from the Hand Plane group to the Hand
Tool group and charged off down a different slope. We have a roster of
about 25 people although meetings typically run 4-9 attendees. We've
taught ourselves how to sharpen, restore, fettle and build planes. We're
on our second round of plane building as I write this. Mine will be a
spill plane. We've made bow saws and boxes as a group plus work on
individual projects. We've learned to use scrapers, sharpen saws.
chisels and about anything else that needs sharpened. I am not a
collector, but I seem to have acquired dozens of planes and chisels, a
small stable of handsaws, scrapers, braces, bits, and all kinds of other
hardware that now require cleaning, sharpening and fondling in much of
my spare time. Sounds a lot like many of the topics discussed on th
Porch. Most of the woodworking I do is not 'fine' work. We're at the
point in life where we need to consider downsizing since we have so much
stuff, so I make little furniture for the home. I have made an
occasional piece for the kids. I piddle in the shop trying to practice
my hand skills to make acceptable hand cut dovetails, improve chisel
work, etc. by making shop things...or just shavings. I still have my
tailed assistants, and use them too. Doubt if I will ever take the leap
to total silence in the shop.

I have enjoyed reading the many messages posted over the last two years.
Thanks for sharing the knowledge. I've learned a lot. Happy New Year,
Galootdom.

Regards, Roy Roy Parker Richmond, Texas December 31, 2010

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah, whatever you say, Roy.

Welcome to the group!

Matthew Groves
Springfield, MO

On Dec 31, 2010, at 3:56 PM, Roy wrote:

> I am not a collector

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roy,

Welcome to the porch.  There is always room for one more Texas Galoot at 
the south end of the porch.  (Where the tequila and Shiner Bock flow 
smoothly.)

Frank Sronce (Fort Worth Armadillo Works)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roy" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 3:56 PM
Subject: [OldTools] Roy (Parker) Bio

Gentle Galoots,

I have been lurking here for over two years.  During that time I have 
had
private exchanges with many and have come to know many of you from 
reading  your
posts these many months.  One of my 2010 New Year's Resolutions was to 
publish
my bio to the group.  I hate to leave things to the last minute, maybe 
the last
hour or two, but not the last minute.  The time has come for me to 
finally crawl
out from under the porch and set a spell, and complete at least one of 
this
year's Resolutions.  Count on me to jump in the discussions and cloud 
the issues
just as they seem to be clearing.

I just turned 60, which puts me at the mean, median and mode of the 
group, as
we're all a year older since the survey.  I am mostly a self-taught
do-it-yourselfer who is trying to learn to be a decent woodworker and 
gain
enough skill to no longer need to buy caulk by the case for final finish 
work.
I am a retired chemical engineer and married to a wonderful woman who 
owned her
own table saw, tool boxes, router and workbench when I met her.

I learned to plumb, wire, plaster, paint, roof and dig deep holes while 
still in
high school and my parents bought a fixer-upper home.  After school, I 
spent
several years improving those skills on my very own fixer-upper. Back in 
the
70's I got interested in muzzleloading, and am a former member of 
Crockett's
Battalion, Brigade of the American Revolution and now a buckskinner 
reenacting a
later era.  I've built a few muzzleloading rifles, and have a couple 
setting
around in parts I'll get to one of these days.  I do a little forge work 
now and
then and sew some leather once in a while.  Jack of all trades, master 
of none,
but interested in everything.  SWMBO, my chief partner in all projects, 
is also
a history buff and a former member of the cannon crew at the Vicksburg 
Military
Park.

My interests have moved from DIY to furniture building in recent years. 
I've
subscribed to many of the usual mags for years.  I joined the local club
(www.wwch.org) which helped a great deal  About 5 years ago one of the 
members
of the woodworking club started a splinter group (I'll pause here while 
all
y'all recover from the woodworking humor) that specialized in hand 
planes.  Like
a clueless newbie, I went to the very first meeting, not realizing he 
was
greasing up an awfully slippery slope.

The splinter group started as a classic example of the blind leading the 
blind,
but got better each time one of us learned how to do something 
correctly, then
showed the others.   We pretty much used up every topic on hand planes, 
then
changed the name from the Hand Plane group to the Hand Tool group and 
charged
off down a different slope.  We have a roster of about 25 people 
although
meetings typically run 4-9 attendees.

We've taught ourselves how to sharpen, restore, fettle and build planes. 
We're
on our second round of plane building as I write this.  Mine will be a 
spill
plane.  We've made bow saws and boxes as a group plus work on individual
projects.  We've learned to use scrapers, sharpen saws. chisels and 
about
anything else that needs sharpened.

I am not a collector, but I seem to have acquired dozens of planes and 
chisels,
a small stable of handsaws, scrapers, braces, bits, and all kinds of 
other
hardware that now require cleaning, sharpening and fondling in much of 
my spare
time.  Sounds a lot like many of the topics discussed on th Porch.

Most of the woodworking I do is not 'fine' work.  We're at the point in 
life
where we need to consider downsizing since we have so much stuff, so I 
make
little furniture for the home.  I have made an occasional piece for the 
kids.  I
piddle in the shop trying to practice my hand skills to make acceptable 
hand cut
dovetails, improve chisel work, etc. by making shop things...or just 
shavings.
I still have my tailed assistants, and use them too.  Doubt if I will 
ever take
the leap to total silence in the shop.

I have enjoyed reading the many messages posted over the last two years. 
Thanks
for sharing the knowledge.  I've learned a lot.  Happy New Year, 
Galootdom.

Regards,
Roy

Roy Parker
Richmond, Texas
December 31, 2010

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the kind words.

Make that Shiner "Black Lager" instead of the Bock. Your tongue will
knock your teeth out galloping around your mouth to make sure it tastes
every drop. Shiner makes several good brews, but the BL is truly
exceptional. If you like Grolsh or Pilsner Urquell, you will like this.

On Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:50:42 -0600, you wrote:

>Roy,
>
>Welcome to the porch. There is always room for one more Texas Galoot
>at>the south end of the porch. (Where the tequila and Shiner Bock
>flow>smoothly.)
>
>Frank Sronce (Fort Worth Armadillo Works)
>
>
>----- Original Message ----->From: "Roy"  To:
> Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 3:56 PM Subject:
>[OldTools] Roy (Parker) Bio
>
>

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not to start a porch war or anything, but I have yet to taste anything
palatable that has the name "Shiner" on the label.

On topic: The bottle opener is one of my most used hand tools.
: ) ) )

Darren Addy Kearney, NE

On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 12:33 PM, Roy  wrote:
>
> Thanks for the kind words.
>
> Make that Shiner "Black Lager" instead of the Bock. =A0 Your tongue
> will knock your teeth out galloping around your mouth to make sure it
> tastes every drop. Shiner makes several good brews, but the BL is
> truly exceptional. =A0If you like Grolsh or Pilsner Urquell, you will
> like this.
>
> On Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:50:42 -0600, you wrote:
>
>>Roy,
>>
>>Welcome to the porch. =A0There is always room for one more Texas
>>Galoot at the south end of the porch. =A0(Where the tequila and Shiner
>>Bock flow smoothly.)
>>
>>Frank Sronce (Fort Worth Armadillo Works)
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Roy"  To:
>> Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 3:56 PM Subject:
>>[OldTools] Roy (Parker) Bio
>>
>>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
> OldTools is a mailing list catering to the interests of hand tool
> aficionados, both collectors and users, to discuss the history, usage,
> value, location, availability, collectibility, and restoration of
> traditional handtools, especially woodworking tools.
>
> To change your subscription options:
> http://ruckus.law.cornell.edu/mailman/listinfo/oldtools
>
> To read the FAQ: http://swingleydev.com/archive/faq.html
>
> OldTools archive: http://swingleydev.com/archive/
>
> OldTools@r... http://ruckus.law.cornell.edu/mailman/listinfo/oldtools
>

--Nothing is sure, except Death and Pentaxes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy New Year Roy=2C and welcome to Porch. We geezers need all
you young folks to gather round while we can still keep our
stories straight.

 Walt Cheever Pushing 70 from the wrong side. Roy wrote:>> Gentle
 Galoots=2C
>> I have been lurking here for over two years. During that time I
>> have had
> private exchanges with many and have come to know many of you from
> reading your posts these many months. One of my 2010 New Year's
> Resolutions was to publish my bio to the group. I hate to leave things
> to the last minute=2C maybe the last hour or two=2C but not the last
> minute. The time has come for me to finally crawl out from under the
> porch and set a spell=2C and complete at least one of this year's
> Resolutions. Count on me to jump in the discussions and cloud the
> issues just as they seem to be clearing.>
SNIP -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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