I have been a lurker for several months now; no longer wanting to be
something akin to "pond scum," here goes my belated bio.
I am 46, married, with 2 "children" - actually 2 Labrador retrievers who
keep me company in the shop. I am a veterinarian by training, but since my
father was a carpenter, I have dabbled in woodworking since I was a little
"tike." Someday I hope to retire to the shop.
I inherited several full toolchests from my father, including approximately
200 wooden planes of various types of which I am very proud. Many of the
wooden planes belonged to my great-grandfather. He was a finish carpenter
in the Philadelphia area, and apparently on the side, made coffins for his
brother who was a mortician. My goal is to get most of these handtools in
working order; currently I have a number of wooden smoothers, jacks, and
jointers working. I tend to make some small projects each fall and winter
in between my other two hobbies of gardening and fishing. Most of the time
I prefer to thickness and square up my stock by hand; just something
satisfying about the feel of those shavings collecting about my feet. My
Ryobi thickness planer just sits in the corner collecting dust. Also, I
have found that working primarily with hand tools makes much less dust than
the power tools; a very important feature when your shop is located in the
basement.
My primary interest in the old tool list is finding "new" old ways of
working wood and looking for parts for many of my old tools. My current
wish list includes 1) spurs for Stanley #55, 2) slitter for same Stanley
#55, 3) cap iron for Bailey transitional jointer, and 4) rosewood totes for
my Stanley #7 and #5. So far, in just a few months of "lurking" I have
picked up a lot of new tips and tricks and discovered a number of
interesting links. I look forward to many more months of the same.
Ronald P. Wilson, V.M.D., M.S.
Associate Professor
Department of Comparative Medicine
Penn State College of Medicine
500 University Drive
Hershey, PA 17033-0850
717-531-8460 (phone)
717-531-5001 (fax)
rpw4@p...
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