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230399 Brian Rytel <brian.rytel@g...> 2012‑05‑25 The pillaging of Placerville (Galoat/Lore) / How I
The pillaging of Placerville (Galoat/Lore) / How I became a Galoot / Bio

Staring at the floodgates:

It all started simply, and interest in traditional Japanese & Chinese
joinery (spurred by a friend). Some library reading and I became
familiar with Japanese tools. Toshio Odate's book was particularly
enlightening.

My grandfather was a carpenter (2x4/framer) but died when I was young, I
never got to see him work. My father ended up with some of his tools. I
wanted a couple of smaller things (planes chisels, handsaws) but ended
up with two tailed's. One, a 40's band saw that was badly rusted, and is
being fully restored by myself. And that is the last of electricity that
is relevant here.

Two things led me to hunt for tools:

1) The book =93Selecting and Using Handtools=94 by FWW
2) Stumbling across =93The Galoots Progress=94 site in search of
   information of rust removal.

What in the FWW book there is a section discussing preparation for Flea
Markets and Auctions to acquire the tools you want at a good value, ie
list of things you need, models preferred, price range, condition, etc.
He forgot to mention the following:

When shopping for old tools you must make a firm decision early on: Am I
a collector? Am I just a wood worker looking for tools? Am I sure I'm
not a collector? Am I sure I can't accidentally become a collector?

Of course I frequent a swap meet and kept an eye out for some tools.

The floodgate springs a leak:

While I picked up some small things (mallet, zigzag rule) I hadn't
bought anything important yet.

A sunny afternoon and I ran across a Stanley H1220B (hand drill, Jeff)
in great condition. Ask for a price, $1. It wasn't till I got home that
I realized there was a full set of bits in the handle. I used it, I
liked it. Then I needed another one.

Of course, I picked around for some other things, I supplanted the
H1220B for a Millers Falls 2-01 (bigger drill, Jeff) it was seized solid
with dried, sticky grease. After some clean-up on it (a lot actually) it
runs freer than, well use your imagination. The discovery of restoring
antique hand tools.

The nail in the coffin, or plane in the desk, was one of my great-
grandfather's planes given to me by my grandmother. He worked in Montana
as a millman in various capacities, and did my other great-grandfather
from the same side of the family. I received a Type 9 or 10 No 5 (jack,
Jeff) from her.

The floodgates burst open/Pillaging of Placerville:

So I took a trip to Northern California to see my father in Placerville,
California. Along the way I found a drawknife, breast drill, Disston
mitre box saw (no box) and a transitional in a little thrift store
centrally located near nothing.

Uh-oh.

Placerville has a number of neat antique shops and cater to mid-price
small & medium items, as most sales are by tourists. =93Mid-price,
small & medium=94 sounds a good deal like tools and did they have
them. 4 wooden planes (jointer, fore, jack and smoother) and an
archimedean drill.

Oh boy.

There was a flea market every Sunday, found lots there, including a $3
mahogany smoother, metal zig-zag rules, and a carpenter's toolbox full
of pre-war wrenches, that also had a S.A. Jones & Co. Bevel gauge and a
Stanley Rule & Level Co No. 12 Type 2 (square, Jeff). I bought the
toolbox for 2 sawset (unbranded and in the process of being identified).

An oiled teflon slope.

El Dorado county is a beautiful place to Galoot, mountains, oak and pine
trees. And every garage sale is 2 miles of a county road.

$5 for 4 Disstons and a Keen Kutter handsaw, handled augers at an annual
market, Stanley levels here and there. An estate sale yielded 2 Stanley
folding rules (66 =BD and 27). The P.W. Square from a previous post came
along with a transitional. Brace bits here and there. I stumbled into a
couple of Stanley block planes and a North Bros + Yankee (no Stanley) No
1555 (2-speed breast drill, Jeff). Then a Goodell-Pratt No. 279
(aluminum breast drill, Jeff) and more and more.

The soggy valley below:

Very few of us are colle- (ahem). We're woodworkers, enthusiasts, history-
preservationists. To cope (or deny as it were) with my affliction, I
decided that I will start selling many of the pieces I found. That way
it's an inventory, not a colle- (what was I saying?). An essential
ingredient to a good business is a good inventory right? Therefore I
must go find more great items for the inventory.

Hopeless.

And I need to remember to do more woodworking, as that is the
primary thing.

Any galloots in the SoCal area, either Orange or Los Angeles county may
see me hunting tools at swap meets or garage sales, flag me down or
arrange to hunt together if you like.

But enough about me.

Brian J.M. Rytel brian.rytel@g...
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