OldTools Archive

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12590 Gil Lamothe <glamothe@i...> 1997‑01‑26 Bio, gloat and questions
Greetings Galoots:

My name is Gil Lamothe. I'm 34 and work as an equity analyst in
Toronto, Ontario. What a pleasant surprise to discover the porch, while
working my way through the Neanderthal Woodworker page. After hanging
around and listening with eagerness to the conversation, I'm ready to
take part.

I started using and collecting old hand tools shortly after my wife and
I purchased our first home, about two years ago. It began innocently
enough with great grandpa's ATKINS & CO. saw, and a 24" Bailey that
needed a lever cap and screw. As we were already auction buffs, I began
looking for a silmilar Bailey to do the restore. From there, it was one
molding plane after another, and the Bailey still isn't fixed. Recently
I've decided to limit my collecting to tools that a "typical" mid 19th
century cabinet maker may have. As a result of this decision I will be
offering several tools for trade (mainly molding planes and
miscellaneous stuff I could'nt resist buying) for tools I'm missing for
my "typical" set (mainly chisels).

SWCCL has been really good throughout this initial accumulation stage. 
The rec room is now full of old tools, as well as primitive furniture,
which is another one of my weaknesses. We're expecting our first next
week, so projects lately have been geared to the baby's room, which
included refinishing the hardwood floor, painting, and restoring and
refinishing two old dressers.

Yesterday was a great day for a galoot, as my regular auction haunt was
unloading somebody's estate, which consisted of a large collection of
tools. My haul included a small(5") smoother, a corner chisel, an
unmarked 3" slick with a nicely turned handle, a walnut panel marking
gauge, a froe that had spent some time buried in the barnyard, and a
rosewood Marples mortise gauge. 

What I didn't get were 2 boring machines, one a Miller's Falls, and the
other unmarked. There were a set of carriage makers rounds, seven in
all, marked 1,2,3,4,6,8,12. Another interesting item was a wooden
clamp. It was essentially a bar clamp, about 4' long, with a movable
block on one end, and a wooden hand screw through a fixed block on the
other end. What was unusual to me about this clamp was that the end of
the wood screw had a pin protruding from its center axis, as well as a
brass collar. The movable block had no such pin. There were also two
threaded holes in the fixed block, such that the screw could be 1" from
the bar, or 3" from the bar. Anything that was clamped with this clamp
would be punctured by the pin protruding from the end of the screw. The
only thing my imagination can come up with is that it was somehow used
to force chair rails into tenons. I've never heard of this being done,
so if anyone knows the real answer as to why the center pin, my
curiosity would appreciate knowing. 

Well that's enough for now. Thanks to everyone on the porch for sharing
their knowledge and experiences

Gil2



Recent Bios FAQ