OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

109758 Bill Kasper <dragonlist@i...> 2002‑09‑16 hanging on by my fingertips
hello, my name is bill kasper and i am hanging on by my fingertips to 
the guard rail at the top of the slippery slope.

i have made shelves and other wooden items (toys, etc.) for most of my 
life, but have always wanted to build fine furniture.  not art-grade 
furniture, but user furniture that my great-grandchildren will be able 
to scoff at ("but mom, i want the hyperplastic chair, not that 
splintery old thing great-grandpa bill beat together... *please*, 
ma?").  i've always used p*w*r tails because handtools seemed to be so 
damn dull.  and i always lusted after my great-uncle's shopsmith, until 
it got stolen.  so i have never given old tools a chance.  until a 
timber-framing friend mentioned disston saws, and i found the galoot's 
progress in search of more information.

damn.

now, (and please understand i have a penchant for mild, parenthetical 
or ellipsoid digression...sometimes both in the same digression), my 
lovely wife (MLW, from now on) gave me a complete shopsmith, with all 
the bells and whistles, for my birthday about two weeks before i heard 
of disston saws, which was about six weeks ago.  so in the last six 
weeks i have been thinking of furniture, and the shopsmith, and now old 
tools.  i will use both, unapologetically, but love old things and will 
be purchasing, restoring, and using them in pursuit of my rekindled 
desire.

current tally (all are users, none for the, ahem, "collection"):  3 
saws (disston d8 thumbhole rip, no. 4 28" mitre box saw, and no. 4 14" 
backsaw), three chisels (a butcher 1/8" tang mortiser, a jorgensen 2" 
socket, and a friedrichs 1 5/8" socket), a stanley sweetheart 8" 
t-bevel, and an old stanley framing rule.

i will be posting some questions soon about refurb of these lovely 
devices, and for attaching the handle to the marking knife i ground 
from an old nicholson file...

thanks.
bill kasper
santa cruz, ca

just say "oh, my, god, you want to buy *what*?"



Recent Bios FAQ