Indeed, welcome!

Great to meet another tool "conservationist."

Archie, near NOLA

On May 25, 2012 4:21 PM, "Brian Rytel"  wrote:

> 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 =E2=80=9CSelecting and Using Handtools=E2=80=9D by FWW
> 2) Stumbling across =E2=80=9CThe Galoots Progress=E2=80=9D 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. =E2=80=9CMid-
> price, small & medium=E2=80=9D 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 =C2=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...m

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