Well, after lurking for the last several months now, I'm finally
biting the bullet to write the bio. Apologies for not following the rules,
but it always seemed that in the little time I have/allow for sitting in
front of the computer, it was always more fun to read through the next 100
or so messages than write something about myself.
I grew up on a farm in central Tx. (B/CS area for you Texans out
there). By todays standards, my old man was a master in most trades but
worked both before and after the farm gig as a carpenter. He was old
enough that in his early days, it was almost all handtools. In case you
folks wonder what happened to all the old saws, I mentioned to my mother
the other day that I was getting into handtools and she said that she
remembered dad coming home from work in the early days and sharpening his
handsaws almost every night. It wasn't till I was much older that I
learned that handsaws don't all come to a near point at the end. Growing
up, we had a decent shop; all the handtools you'd expect plus the corded
kind too (ts, lathe etc.). There was no particular love for the old tools
except to treat them right and use the right tool for the job. I think
dad was probably one of the first to own a 'lectric handplane. (If you're
hanging doors all day long and you're in your 50's with nine kids at home
(I'm number eight), you might get one too).
I worked as a trim/cabinet carpenter and as a framer during the
summers through high school and part of college. Though we built some
nice 'custom' homes, this wasn't high craftwork: to most of the folks I
worked with, wood movement was something associated with a settling slab
or not using enough nails, and handplanes were little tools used for
fixing F****ups even the painters couldn't fix. I've been into oldtools
for a while now but only recently with the list and newly aquired
knowledge has it begun to be serious. Strictly user mode here, I remember
several years back going out to replace a framing square that flew out the
back of the truck and finding a new Stanley: aluminized paint flaking off
at the store and not a table on it. Shook head, muttered something
unintelligable and found an old one for about a quarter of the price.
Broken needle nose pliers: new ones at Sears required both hands to open.
Grumble, grumble, Garage sales and WD-40. Got a Stanley Handyman miterbox
for a buck, brought it home and huh? it cuts angles in locked-in
increments of 15? No way to cut 22 1/2? Grumble again and still looking
for a good old one (that'd be a hint, but I'm too cheap to pay the
postage). Since joining the list, I've been happily de-rusting some nice
user tools. Carefully with the good stuff (recent auction, 606C Bedrock,
probably type 8 if the Bedrocks follow the other type study--$20); and
electrolyzing the rest: pliers, Pexto pipe wrenches, auger bits etc. I
get a kick out of electrolysis since my battery charger is a Sears
Craftsman, using a Crapsman electric apprentice to rescue oldtools has a
pleasant irony for me.
I went to UT Austin for undergraduate and the UW in Seattle for
graduate work in Biochemistry. I got my Phd in 1989 in Seattle did
post-doc work in Berkeley and San Francisco and recently moved to my
wife's hometown in Eugene, OR with two apprentices in tow: 4 1/2 y.o. boy
and 2 y. o. girl. Between work, the kids, searching for and learning to
use old tools and rehabilitating an older house previously owned by an
idiot do-it-yourselfer, the days are pretty much full (anybody have a
great oldtool or technique for removing 8 penny commons from trimwork?).
Apologies for the Lamantian bio. I'll come up on the porch now,
if there are no objections. I've got a few questions saved up for the
more experienced galoots.
Kenneth Watkins
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