OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

16225 Lootens, Rob <Rob.Lootens@v...> 1997‑04‑04 FW: The "quick" Bio ???
Greetings to all stewards, galoots, iron, brass and wood mavens wherever   
you list...

  My name is Rob Lootens. I'm 6' 2" have eyes of blue and I'm a Gemini   
(with Scorpio rising) born June 18, 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. . In   
person I'm quite ugly but I have the hands of an artist (I'm told). I'm   
single, living with my girlfriend and my "stuff" in our rented 1850   
Italianate house in Utica Michigan and have two grown sons aged 17 and   
19. Since I am sure this is not a guess your gender chat group (or is it?   
do any ladies or poseurs drop in?) I will quit with the personal   
descriptions.

I have too many interests (which I'm working on) but the salient point   
here is that I'm a handtool addict. I have lots of addictions beside   
handtools (mostly Stanley) though none of them have tails (well, one does   
but.....) I play acoustic guitar, collect old books, old stamps,   
classical music on vinyl, a fairly serious student of metaphysics, a very   
serious student of history (all local history wherever on terra I go),   
watercolorist, former amateur luthier, collect objets d art of cast iron   
and wood, heraldry, too many other things.........

My day job is as senior writer/editor for Volkswagen and Audi of America   
in Auburn Hills Michigan. I write and edit Repair Manuals (anything   
regarding engine management and fuel systems) part of the time, and I   
manage the computer network for the department the rest of the time. Its   
funny, I was far more productive before the computer arrived???

The point that I think might be of interest to some of you would be my   
life experiences that connect me to the Stanley factory. My dad was a   
warehouseman with the Buhl Sons & Company of Detroit, Michigan. He worked   
there from 1938 to 1963. They were THE supplier of Stanley tools to the   
Detroit Metro industrial base. As a child in the early Fifties, I was   
able to explore/ curiositize/ touch/ observe more aisles of pure boxed   
Stanley tools than you would ever dream of. I attended Stanley promotions   
for the hardware trade and even got to take home the freebie handouts of   
the day. So, what do I have left after all of that exposure? Sadfully, no   
tools or anything from that era, it was all pitched by my mom the same   
day she threw out my baseball cards and comic books etc... But what I do   
have are fond and wonderful memories of hardware people, warehouse and   
tool people and fantastic little adventures in the space of my own head.   
I would love to share some of these with you, as well as trade stories   
and historical information. At some point I'd like to write a book about   
the "spiritual" side of tools and society... another time.

I hope this isn't too long for the nominal reader and look forward to   
hearing from one and all.

Sincerely,

Rob Lootens      (is it Galootens now?)
Utica, Michigan 


Recent Bios FAQ