OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

18952 Jake Spiller <spiller@B...> 1997‑05‑22 My BIO, a gloat and a question
Hi Galoots,

	I would say 'fellow galoots' but I don't think I'm there yet.  I
stumbled across while searching for woodworking tools about two months
ago.  I lurked for a day in the archives and then lost the thread when
my blasted machine crashed.  In between then and now I bought a 'new'
old house which has had my undivided attention.  The previous owner was
a legend in the neighborhood(for example - at the age of 78 this man
hand dug his full(and I mean 24 X 40) basement a full 18 inches, poured
a concrete floor and finished it.  A lot of things he did well, some not
so well.  Over the last five weeks, I have thrown a ten foot header in a
bearing wall,  dropped a subfloor 3/4", installed white oak(no nail gun)
over said subfloor, put in a couple of interior oak french doors, installed
a lot of drywall and painted the entire interior.  All this was done in
evenings and weekends.  People are starting to joke that his spirit has
invaded my body.  Sorry about the bandwidth, but both my gloat and question
come from this house.

	My name is Jack Spiller but my friends all call me Jake, so please
do.  I am married to SWMBO-2, Kathy, a wonderful woman with no patience
("When is the drywall going up?").  She is however, quite tolerant which is
much more important.  I have two SWMBOIT's(SWMBO In Training) from my first
marriage.  They are Chritine(16) and Theresa(18).  Both are smart, atheletic,
pretty, very personable, and pad-locked in their rooms(only kidding on this
last one).  I don't have dog yet, but I'm getting one real soon.  By the way,
are dogs allowed on the porch?  Every porch should have a dog.  I work on
Wall Street where I build financial models, for you computer/math types, two
factor multi-path simulations.  I actually all that advanced math I took on
a daily basis.  Anyway, I am well compensated for what I do,  but also have
to deal with a lot of stress(get it wrong in the fourth decimal and it could
mean millions).

	I do own some tailed apprentices, but I use them mainly when I'm doing 
renovations(God bless the man who invented the SawZall).  I definitely prefer
the quiet of hand tools.  I'll admit that I use a t*bl* s*w, but pretty much
exclusively to cut panels down to size.  I've done a few simple projects,
a book case,  a desk, a workbench(M&T for the bench, dowels for the others).
The workbench is douglas fir with a ten-inch vise.  It's a nice table but
I want to do it in hardwood, which bring me to ...

	My three gloats.  When I moved to this the previous owners didn't
quite finish cleaning up and they left a few things.  The first thing they
left was a table top in the garage.  It's solid maple.  It's 3-1/2 inches
thick, actual not nominal.  Oh yeah, it's EIGHT FEET in diameter and I can't
find ONE knot in it.  While cleaning the garage attic I found a 12 inch
ratcheting brace and a 5-C.  This plane was most definitely used by a 
Galoot from a bygone age.  The sole was almost perfectly flat.  Only took
five minutes to get it there, the blade took even less time to get scary.
The rear handle has a chip out of it, but it is rosewood.

	Finally to my question, this is directed out to all galoots and
wanna-bees, the SWMBO's already know the answer.  A man is standing alone
in the woods and he expresses  an opinion.  If there are NO woman there to
hear him, is he still wrong?  Now for my real question, I want to finish
my two interior french doors.  I plan to use a half pound shellac for the
first coat, one pound for coat #2.  Subsequent coats will be a varish,
boiled liseed oil, and turpentine.  Will this be strong in the long term
or should I go with a poly.

	Well, I think I'll climb up on the porch now.  Thatis if the SWMBO's
don't bury me under it.

			Jake Spiller
			spiller@b...
			212-272-7796

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Recent Bios FAQ