Patrick Leach wrote:
>So, when did it dawn on you that you were given to fits of
>handtool fundamentalism?
I'm guessing I was about 10 when I received a wooden tool box, a set of
carpentry tools, and a small pile of lumber for Christmas. I made nothing
of consequence from this wood but I still remember this as one of the
most satisfying Christmas presents I ever got. From that point on until
college I did very little woodworking except for the odd tree house. it
wasn't until 1976 that I really got bitten hard by the woodworking bug
when I took a woodworking course offered through the Student Union at
Ohio State. The shop course was strictly p*wertools but I was somewhat
attracted to the idea of using some hand tools. For one thing I didn't
have squat for disposable income and certainly wasn't going to buy all
the tailed apprentices that I used in the course. So I bought a crummy
Stanley Handyman #4 and a couple of Kunz spokeshaves. I had a brace and a
Sandvik backsaw. I had a Sears rout*r and a set of Great Neck chisels. I
made a few small projects throughout my graduate education using various
storage lockers in married student housing for workspaces. I ended up
buying a used t*bl*s*w when I moved out to California and set up a shop
in my garage. In 1985 I built my bench and in doing so began to
understand how to tune a plane and use a scraper. Yet I continued to lust
after various and sundry tailed apprentices and, with the exception of
planes, tried to use tailed apprentices whenever possible. What kept
turning me back to handtools was the limitations of my p*wertools.
I'm cheap. No doubt about it. Paying $1500 for a really nice t*bl*saw is
something I'll never be able to do. Mine is an ancient 8" Delta I bought
for $50. It is a solid, well made little saw (with loads of patina) but
can't cut through much more than 2". I was pondering the replacement of
this tool while standing in front of the Dominy workshop display at the
Winterthur museum when it finally dawned on me that working with
handtools is a different paradigm entirely. Bringing the tool to the
material frees up all sorts of possibilities. T*bl*s*ws have a maximum
blade size and thus height. B*nds*ws have a maximum resaw capacity.
Jo*nt*rs and plan*rs have a maximum width and the latter a maximum
height. Bigger machines mean more money and more square footage. Yet, you
can physically surface an area you could never stick in a jointer or
planer with a #4 or #5 and a card scraper. I could rip a 12 ft board with
a Disston and a couple of sawhorses. If I want to shove this same board
through my t*bl*s*w it means that I need 12 ft behind the saw, 12 ft in
front and some extra for maneuvering room. My shop isn't that long or
wide. This is my hobby, not my livelihood, and I don't have the space or
money for bigger p*w*r tools. I won't go into noise, dust, and the fear
of decapitating much loved body parts. Discuss amongst yourselves.
Back to the voices. Two years ago I was increasingly disenchanted with my
woodworking and wanted to try using more handtools especially beyond
planes and chisels. I had already made a few attempts to find local
sources for used tools but never really came up with good spots. I wasn't
sure what was good stuff or what some of the stuff was worth. I had
Patrick's Stanley Blood and Gore but as he mentions, it isn't a price
guide. I wasn't yet aware of Jay Sutherland's Plane Dating page. I saw a
mention of the OldTools listserv on rec.norm and joined up. My life
changed. Before the list, woodworking was a solitary hobby. It did not
appear to me that Neanderthals were getting a lot of respect on rec.norm
at the time (although I think things have changed for the better) and it
was hard to get useful information on hand tool topics through the noise.
On the local front, I got together with friends to work on joint projects
occasionally but participating in OldTools was a quantum leap on the
interactivity scale. Now when I run into a problem or experience an
epiphany I have several hundred Galoots to ask questions of or to share
knowledge and maybe a good gloat with.
The voices in my head are _your_ voices and I carry them with me whenever
I hit a flea market or enter my shop.
****************************
Tom Price
Brakes For Rust
The Stages Of A Galoot is a feature at The Galoot's Progress:
http://members.aol.com/tomprice/galootp/galtprog.html
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