OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

125192 Michael Campbell <michael_s_campbell@y...> 2003‑12‑03 [bio] etc
I don't have much to "bio-ize" that would be much of interest to 
anyone, so this will be short.  I have some questions along the way, 
and there will be a pop quiz at the end, so stay sharp.

I can't honestly say how I got sucked into this hobby, really. I'm 38

and the last time I did any "real" woodworking was in high school
shop 
class, but for some reason, here I am.

Professionally, I'm an application developer (fancy term for computer

programmer) in the financial sector; over the years I've worked at 
securities firms (of the stocks and bonds variety), banks, and so 
forth.  I have a degree in computer science, and am about as creative

as a cinder block.  I live and work in the northern 'burbs of
Atlanta, 
and love southern food, southern rock, and blues music.  (This from 
someone who grew up outside Chicago!)

I, along with some coworkers have somewhat developed this woodworking

desire together, starting about a year ago.  I started along the 
typical path of powertools and have a few of the usual suspects;
table 
saw, compound miter saw, ROS, etc.  No planer or jointer though.  My 
father, a heavy machinery mechanic (retired) has always dabbled in
the 
metalworking side of things and has passed down to me a number of 
valuable gifts, not the least of which is some modicum of mechanical 
ability, though I will never know as much as he's forgotten.

Where my coworkers continue down that path, I deviate.  I can't saw 
how, or why, but handtools have delighted me since I started this. 
Maybe it's the quiet, or the deceptively low entry price (which I'm 
finding is a cruel joke), or ... something, but I just love 'em.  I 
suspect you all know what I'm failing to elucidate here.  I don't 
DISLIKE power tools, but I feel like I'm missing something by using 
them, something important I can't quite explain; like an itch you 
can't locate.

I'm equally terrible with all of them, so the extent of embarassment,

but I'm trying to learn what they do, how to use them, take care of 
them, and to just be a decent craftsman.  Some of my contemporaries' 
desire to be more of a "manufacturer".  Maybe there's a difference 
there I'm making up to justify my leaning on all that is old, but I 
don't think so.  I find myself breaking away at work from redesigning

financial algorithms to wondering if I should practice dovetails or 
dimensioning rough stock by hand that evening.

So, I've started down the slope; it's started with planes (I have a 
#4C, #5, #8, #60, #80, no-name woodie rabbet, 2 #71's on the way from

ebay, scrapers...), but has seemed to start spilling over.  I have a 
bowsaw, and I'm going to make my own as well, and a frame saw.  My 
father gave me a D-23 which I haven't dated yet, and a saw set HIS 
father gave him, which he used in the first half of the 1900's.  I 
find myself gleaning ebay for a brace and bit set now.

Am I a galoot?  I leave that to you. I'd /like/ to be, but I don't 
think I have the experience to justify that claim.  GIT maybe, or 
apprentice perhaps.  Is there a ritual I muss pass to qualify?  Some 
arcane and bizarre hazing practice, maybe?  Demonstrate some
knowledge 
of the subject, or skill?  Do "new" versions of old tools qualify? 
Say, hypothetically...a Steve Knight jointer, or is this an egregious

faux pas?

Lastly, I think I can get it by context, but can someone give me some

pointers to the practice of qualifying something in a sentence for 
someone else, typically "Jeff"?  I see things like... "And then I 
sharpened the florx (snozlet, Jeff) until it was sharp as a bowling 
(bocce, Jeff) ball!"

Ok, so that wasn't short.

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Recent Bios FAQ