OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

120155 "Matt Mulka" <matt_mulka@c...> 2003‑07‑20 My bio
Last November I came across this site and it's been my homepage ever
since.
I was getting a little bored of the same old question about which blurfl
to
buy on the Fine Woodworking Forum and wanted someplace more oriented
toward hand tools. All the talk about rust hunting and actually using
these
tools really hit home for me. Now that I've graduated from Notre Dame and
have some time, I think it's time to post my bio and stop lurking. I think
you might find this bio different than most...

I've been told I was born with a hammer in my hand. While this was very
painful for mom, it also defined where my life would lead me. As a kid I
was always at Grandpa's workbench in his basement. I especially loved to
use his plane. At this point, my "woodworking" consisted of taking out his
tools, looking at them, making some shavings with the plane, pounding some
nails into his workbench and drilling holes in it for no reason, then
walking away and leaving all the tools out. Needless to say I thing the
only thing I did when I was young was annoy Grandpa.

About 8th grade I actually started to make things, mostly birdhouses and
other small items. One of my first real projects was a trebuchet
<http://www.nd.edu/~mmulka/wwg/trebuchet.jpg>. The real blessing came when
mom and dad moved my workbench from the basement to the garage. Now I
could make all the dust I wanted, and did.  It was also about that time
that I became more interested in hand tools, especially hand planes. It
was some articles in Fine Woodworking and American Woodworker that hinted
at the possibilities of hand tools that piqued my interest. Before this, I
had mostly been interested in power tools, because that's what Norm used.
Lest you think I'm knocking Norm, I'm not. While I don't use the same
methods he does anymore, I must say he is the single largest reason I
became so interested in woodworking.

Anyway, I started looking around at garage sales and on the Bay (before I
realized how overpriced it is) and began acquiring tools. I managed to
acquire a good user set of tools, especially those hand planes I love.
<http://www.nd.edu/~mmulka/wwg/planedrawer.jpg> My huge breakthrough came
when I found the scary sharp method. Even though my shop is only 12' by
12'
<http://www.nd.edu/~mmulka/wwg/shedreorganized2.jpg>, 3 feet of bench space
are permanently dedicated to sharpening. I also have about 10 or so user
saws, mostly Disstons. When I realized that any saw sharpener around me
would simply stick them on a machine and spit out a 9pt crosscut, I
decided it was time to learn how to sharpen saws. So I looked around and
found Harold Payson's book on saw sharpening. I should mention that I was
a freshman at Notre Dame when I decided to teach myself saw sharpening. So
there I am sitting in my dorm room reading this book on sharpening antique
saws while my buddies were playing Playstation, quite the scene. I may be
the only 22 year old who can sharpen handsaws, although I hope not. I'm
not sure how good I am at sharpening, although the saws cut straight and
quiet. I've only sharpened one no name backsaw, although I'm trying to get
up the courage to sharpen my Disston one.

Two years ago we moved and I was evicted from the garage. This thrilled me
because I got to build a woodworking shop in the back yard, although
Mokena's damn zoning laws limit sheds to 144 square feet. Grandpa and I
took 2 months building the shop, and I must admit quite a few tailed
apprentices were used in its construction. Now I have a whole shop to do
whatever I please to.

Now that I've got the time (and more $$$$), it's time for some more
ambitious projects. Next up will be a bookcase with inlayed sides, by far
the most complicated so far. I'm also planning a lot more rust hunting in
the south suburbs of Chicago. As the youngest member of The Porch (I
think), I have a lot of learning to do.

Matt Mulka



Recent Bios FAQ