OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

12414 Larry McVoy <lm@n...> 1997‑01‑23 delurk
This is a copy of a post I did to rec.ww...

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Phil -
	nice idea.  For what is worth, there is a mailing list for old
tools that has this idea as _policy_.  You have to tell the list who
you are before you post.  Great minds think alike, it seems.

I'm 34, single, do software R&D in the Unix computer world for a
living.  I'm widely know (in my field) as a pain in the butt to manage
but reasonably productive at times, which might be why I'm still
employed here at Silicon Graphics.

I live in San Francisco, have no garage, no shop, yet manage to do a
lot of woodworking in my kitchen.  Projects to date: bookshelves from a
packing crate, toolbox (10 drawers, all dovetailed) computer stand,
rack clamp, more shelves for the kitchen, a TV cabinet, several clocks,
a workbench, boxes, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting.  You
can see most of this stuff on my web page: http://reality.sgi.com/lm if
you are insterested.

I got started (again) in woodworking a couple of years ago when a
girlfriend bought me a router and told me to stop complaining about not
having a shop.  Much to my neighbors' dismay, I set up shop on my back
deck and have been happy ever since.

I started down the power tool route and have accumlated:

	Inca bandsaw (the smaller one, but a reasonable replacement
		for that 8" delta suboptimal annoyance).
	Makita benchtop TS.  Purely a matter of space.  I'd love to
		have the Grizzly cabinet saw (they import, by the
		way, but put american motors on because it was
		cheaper than angry customers).
	Ryobi benchtop joiner.  A much nicer tool than I expected.
	Tiny Delta drill press.  Not great, but beats the heck out
		of a hand held electric drill.
	Belt Sandah.  Used for sharpening shovels.  'Nuff said.
	Orbital round & square detail sandahs.  Used for cleaning
		rust off of old tools.
	PC router.  Don't like it, don't care what the common wisdom
		is, that plunge mechanism sucks.  Wish I had bought
		an Elu but it is a moot point since I do mostly
		by hand dovetails these days.
	Dewalt circle saw, the one with the alignment adjust at the
		back with an expensive blade.  Use *only* for panel
		cutting.  Nice tool.
	Elu biscuit joiner.  When you gotta do it fast these are great.

I quickly lost interest in power tools (as predicted by many) and became
a plane junkie.  And proud of it.  The current list looks something like

        Wood planes:

                About a dozen molding planes, of which maybe half are in
                good working order.

                Joiner & a jack, I use the jack a lot, has a Hock blade in it.
                A couple of smooth planes.  All 4 of these are transitionals.
                The jack is ~1887 or so.

		John Gage self setting smoother.  Great plane until I sharpened
			it.  Have to figure out what I did.

                One of those german smooth planes. 

                Ancient (1700's) scrub. Cool plane.  Also a smooth plane.

                Modern panel raiser.  Still can't get this to work right but
                I will one day.

                Coupla spoke shaves.  neato.

        Metal planes:

                2 or 3 #45 combo planes.  Mostly without blades but this isn't
                a problem because I have a:

                Stanely #55 combo plane.  This is a Rube Goldberg gizmo
                designed to replace a chest full of wooden molding planes.
                You have to see and use one of these to appreciate them.
                They are not for the faint of heart.  The blades fit in
                the 45...

                ~1902 era #8 joiner that I got for $10 at a garage sale.
                Way cool plane, very precise.  Use it all the time, wouldn't
		part with it for $500.

                A couple of #5 jacks, useful tools.

                A Lie Nielson #62 reproduction.  Incredible plane.  Designed
                for butch block tops (end grain), it makes a nice smoother
                for really difficult wood.  You can close the mouth down to
                a rats ass.

                Lie Nielson #4 repro.  Great plane, sure wish they had
                flattened the bottom before they sent it to me.

                Lie Nielson #9 repro.  Great plane, sure wish they had
                flattened the bottom before they sent it to me.

                Stilletto #4 - great smoother, best I had until the LN #4.

                #40 scrub.  Tiny plane, gotta use it to believe it.  Used
                for taking rough sawn lumber down to size.  It's the
                ancient version of a thickness planar and works way
                better than you would ever guess.

                #90, 92, 94.  These are planes for trimming tenons.  Handy!

                #78 router.  Neato.

                # 9 1/2 block.  Nice plane, just works really well.

                # 65 block.  Should work as well as the 9 1/2 but doesn't.
                Still a very nice plane.

                Lie Nielsen # 140 skew rabbet block plane.  Used for raising
                panels, trimming, and hogging off a lot of wood in a hurry.

                Tiny thumb plane - smoothing out those mistakes.
                Spoke shaves....

                Side rabbet (forgt the number) but a handy plane.

                66 beader.  Rarely use it.

                Rabbet, metal.   Use it for picture frames.

And the planes inspired an interest in other hand tools, such as

		5 braces in 4" through 12" swing.  Boxed set of bits, 1/4"
			and up in 1/16ths.
		Wagon wheel spoke maker (no shit).  Has to be seen to be
			believed.
		1872 mitre trimmer.  Gotta unload this thing, the lion trimmer
			works better.
		Lion mitre trimmer.  Gotta use it and then you'll love it.
		A bunch of old squares, including a 12" beaut I just cleaned
			up.  Probably about 100 yrs old, two owners marks.
			Also probably hand made, no manufactors mark.  I
			love this square.
			Got a Starrett who's 45' isn't.  Sigh.
		Chisels.  One japanese sucker that is cool.  Marples for the
			rest.  Have to upgrade, probably to Sorbys.  Japanese
			are cool but for some reason I just don't warm up to
			them.

As you can see, I'm a tool junky.  I use most of the stuff and am quite happy
when I am woodworking.  So happy, in fact, that I sometimes ignore everything 
else.  Which tends to piss off the SO, but she's learning to deal :-)
--
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Larry McVoy     lm@s...     http://reality.sgi.com/lm     (415) 933-1804



Recent Bios FAQ