OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

53609 Paul Fuss <fuss_em@h...> 1998‑11‑19 Updated bio
Since seeing a couple of other longstanding members
respond to Ken's plea for bios, here's my own self-indulgent
drabble.  Hey... That reminds me of my Drabble and Sanderson
brass-backed dovetail saw...  Mmmmm...  Hoh-oh-oh-oh...
(Homer Simpson food-daydream-gruntlike-noises).

I'm another refugee from rec.ww, having joined Oldtools
somewhere around Jan '96 (original bio was pre-archive).
I have one particularly fond memory from that forum, of an
interaction with a Normitus Maximus who ran a commercial
cabinetmaking shop here in New England and who offered to
sell hobbyist-sized quantities of domestic hardwood to us
hobbyists cheap.  He turned out to be a great guy, and he
spent over an hour with me hand selecting some really nice
boards from his stock, looking over my plans and discussing
the project, and then proceeded to charge me a mere fraction
of what I would have paid at a lumber yard (his was a high-
volume shop, which was why he could afford to make this offer).
The result was a cherry cradle with dovetailed corners and a
trestle base; my first real neander project, it gave me some
great experience with lots of classic joinery techniques in
addition to the more mundane things (though new for me) like
dimensioning stock by hand and glue up of larger panels.
Occupant of said cradle is now 3, and has always loved tools.
SWMBO even had a child's baseball cap embroidered for her that
says "Galoot Tot".  She has a workbench right alongside mine
in the basement.

Since finding Oldtools, I've never looked back.  I've had many
wonderful interactions with lots of folks here, both on line
and in person.  While not a dealer, I do occasionally peddle
my duplicates so that I can afford to buy more.  My current
favorite tool is a craftsman-made low-angle skew block/mitre
plane with mahogany infill and huge squirrel-tail-like wedge
that hangs out over the back; it's unlike anything I've seen
before (quite beautiful to my eye -- as planes go, distinctly
curvacious and feminine -- but I better stop there, especially
after Carl's post about infills), and remarkably versatile.  I
find I reach for this plane all the time.  Obtained from one of
our resident dealers, who has liquidated his earlier collection
in his quest to collect at least one of everything Stanley ever
made (but we won't mention any names, now, will we?).  Yep,
Bill, ya done gave it a good and loving home.  The future of
my accumulation instincts is in the direction of wooden moulding
planes.  What few H-Rs I have, I find I use a surprising amount;
since I am always making picture frames, I hope to obtain
various simple as well as complex profiles in coming years.

My current project is a traditional spice chest out of curly
cherry (from Pete of course) with a raised-panel tombstone door
and nine little bitty dovetailed drawers inside.  It's been in
the planning stages since last Christmas.  Will it be done by
this Christmas?  Doubtful, but then again, deadlines are
always a good thing in my case.  Other stuff keeps intervening,
like a colleague needing a piece of custom-designed exercise
(step-test) equipment for a nutrition research project in
China, something that is lightweight yet sturdy, and can be
knocked down and easily portable (on the back of a bicycle no
less).  Oh, and it has to double as a stadiometer too...  I
think what I really need is George Jetson's briefcase.  Who'da
thunk a bunch of antique woodworking tools could save the day
in an otherwise high-tech work environment?

But I digress...*

Paul Fuss
Boston, MA
Field: Big Science. Occupation: little fish.
*My vote for official Oldtools motto



Recent Bios FAQ