OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

258647 dstar@a... 2016‑03‑27 Stanley 2358 MB Jason Schneider bio
Tony has been helping me out on my quest for a Stanley 2358.  Can't wait to see
what my freshly sharpened saw can to do with a complete box!  Tony had pointed
out that I never did a bio, so.......

Your right Tony, I never did a bio.  I'm a bit of a hermit, I guess even when it
comes to the internet.  There are lots of us hermits in Alaska.  I'd even say my
wife is one.  My wife and I moved up here in 1995.  She had just graduated from
VCU and I was just starting at UAF.  I graduated in '99 with a degree in biology
and went right to work building houses!  Our kind host, Chris was actually my TA
in biology 105 way back when.

I'm licensed and bonded for rough and finish carpentry and.......concrete.  I
try to not tell anyone about the concrete.  I've built several houses from the
ground up by myself and I used insulated concrete forms (ICF's) for the
foundations on them (2 3/4" of foam, 6" of concrete and seismic zone 4 re bar
placement, and then 2 3/4" of foam).  Makes for a super insulated house (I was
standing in our first unfinished home during a 7.9 quake and had to look outside
to see that it was actually a quake, as the house was not moving but the trees I
had recently dropped were literally bouncing).  Our current 1,200 square foot
home uses 150 gallons of oil a year (+a cord and half of well seasoned wood),
and that includes hot water!  Not bad for the interior of Alaska.  For work, I
have a partner who homesteaded up here in 1971 and for the past 5-6 years we've
been working together doing anything from handyman stuff to full remodels (he
has several GC friends who are now retired and pass on work to us).  We have
been very lucky and have several return costumers that tell us to take our time
and do a good job!  Beats the heck out of working on base with someone standing
over you watching the clock and cracking the whip (you ever wonder why the
military wastes so much money, work on your local base and you'll see why; my
brother does hazardous material removal and you would be surprised how many
brand new buildings he has taken down; he has stories that have stories).
As far as old tools go, apparently I'm just getting started.  I guess you could
call me a new recruit:)  The costumers I mentioned above wanted me to build a
custom entertainment system out of 8/4 red oak.  The lumber was rough and I
broke out the dewalt hand planer (that's right, electric) and started destroying
a nice thick piece of wood (it actually turned out fine).  That was when I
started looking into hand tools (my partner lived for 35 years on a remote trap
line and the first 25 he had no power tools or motors so he thinks I'm crazy).
First I looked at ebay and saw the prices of used stuff.  Then I did some
research.  I bought a Veritas 3/4" shoulder plane, new.  Then I went to the
local antique store and found a no 4 size Birmingham B Plane and a prelateral
Stanley no 5.  The prices were cheaper than ebay, but still expensive for a guy
who was doing the daddy daycare thing and only working 15-20hrs/wk (wife is a
secretary at UAF).
 
Then, I noticed a flyer advertising a widow who was having a "mostly old
carpenter tools" yardsale.  It was early spring and quite cold when me and one
other guy showed up.  The whole yard was full of tables full of old tools.  The
user kind (turns out he moved up here after WWII and did a lot of work in the
bush = no electricity).  The other guy (who I now know is a collector) knew
exactly what was going on and immediately started grabbing all the new in the
box stuff, while I went after his hand planes.  I quickly spent all my money and
went to town to run errands.  On my way home I had to drive right by it again,
and luck would have it I had just cashed a check, so I stopped back by knowing
that maybe he had a mitre box.  It had been several hours and the same guy was
still there!  He came running over to me and said I had only seen the first shed
of stuff.  He had been helping them unpack the two other sheds of stuff!!
Unfortunately, that guy got most of all the good timber framing slicks and rough
carpentry stuff (he said he had made many trips to the truck with piles of
stuff).  But I did get my Stanley 2358; the old guy must have had a sharpening
fettish because everything I got from that yardsale was super sharp.  So, it was
this yardsale that got me on the road to bringing old rusty tools home and
quickly hiding them in my shed (which is now very full).
 
Actually, my wife is glad that I like old tools and not airplanes, guns,
snowmachines, and flyfishing in the Sachelles!  I let my brother and dad collect
those things; I'd gladly flyfish the Sachelles, but AK doesn't have that bad of
fishing:)  In VA I hunted a lot out in western VA for whitetails and turkey, but
after a few failed hunts (It's not as easy to walk over to that there hill over
yonder as one would think) up here I seem to have moved to fishing.  I head out
to the stream when all the hunters are in the woods.  The trout are full of
salmon eggs and the streams are quiet.  Of course I prefer fishing on the
streams where the bears outnumber the humans!  Hunting up here is different than
VA.  Here it is all about filling the freezer, while back home it was about
getting the big rack.  My brother just married a woman from a small village
(Beaver) on the Yukon.  Last year, he dropped his moose, and within the hour the
whole clan was there and they took everything including the guts!  Moose are
large and there always seems to be someone that has more than they can eat.  I
raise my own chickens and pigs, so I get enough killing and butchering with
that.  I'd much rather catch a 30" native rainbow and release it for next year.
I'm not a purist, a fresh trout over the camp fire is a must!

Though yardsale season is short up here, after two summers of picking I realized
that I need to focus on something and to not grab every plane I came across.  I
like the old tools from civil war era to prior to WWII (1880s-1890s
specifically).  Mostly into the Birmingham planes (it was the first old tool I
purchased), but ebay and other online vendors are my only outlet for that.  We
are tool poor up here, relative to those of you that live in areas with more
than 100 years of history. I have started paying attention to WWII stuff, seeing
that we have a rich history with the military.

I've never been to a flee market or tool swap or auction.  I just joined MWTCA,
but I don't see myself flying to any meetings.  The family is planning a trip
back east in six weeks (DC > Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Nagshead > Orlando) and my
wife keeps asking what I want to do.  I've told them that all I want to do is
wake up one Friday morning and go yardsaling out in the country where her family
is!
 
When it comes to "collecting", I've told myself to only get stuff you can use
(with the exception of the Birmingham stuff).  My galootish desires are to start
making furniture.  I'm the self learning, trial by error type.  Problem is that
wood is very expensive, as it all has to be shipped.  I bought a bunk of locally
milled and kiln dried birch to do my trim and cabinets in our current house.  I
still have half of it left, but nowhere to store it other than pallets and tarps
(which isn't good).  I brought in a stack around Christmas time and am just now
starting in on making my son a bookshelf.  Next will be a dresser (the pair of
beaver board Kmart dressers we bought the week we rolled into town are now
falling apart).  I have a friend who is a very skilled woodworker and does super
high end custom stuff (not the galootish method) and keeps telling me that
interior birch is very hard to work with and isn't very good for furniture.  I'm
the kind of person that has to try!  Maybe I'll find out that I should have
taken his advise and burned the stack.  It is pretty twisted stuff!  Good news
is that a friend just finished his new shop with all new tools (nice ones at
that).  I can see taking a truck load of boards over to his place next winter.

Thanks for letting me on the porch.  Usually, before I get to the stairs its
pointed out to me that hippies have to use the rear entrance:)
 
jason schneider

ps. I ain't no stinkin' hippie, I'm a Deadhead!

Recent Bios FAQ