Seems sharing my bio would be the polite thing to do, so here goes:
I'm just about to be 37, I live in Melbourne (the one in Australia,
where it is currently 40 degrees Celsius and we have fire weather
warnings). I have been a galoot without realising it for a few years
now. My initial motivation was saving money - why spend $180 on a modern
Stanley plane, when I can pick one up at a garage sale, and with a bit
(okay, sometimes a LOT) of work I can have something better. As I've
restored my first major project (a Stanley #5) I've really come to enjoy
the satisfaction of taking a rusted old tool and making it back into a
useful, and pleasing tool.
I have also grown to prefer hand tools over power tools. I'm not averse
to electrons, per se - in my work as a systems administrator, I push a
fair few electrons around every day. My reasons are:
- I like the quiet satisfaction of pushing a hand plane or winding a
hand drill
- I'm not that skilled in woodworking, so hand tools let me make
mistakes slower than power tools do (and sometimes I can even stop or
correct mistakes)
- I think it is foolish to discard thousands of years of hand-tool
skills in favour of power tools - it would only take a small shift in
our society to make ready access to 240V difficult - how then will you
repair and build?
- sometimes I just can't be stuffed trailing extension cords around the
yard, when I can easily take a bit and brace and have the job done in
minutes
- power tools wake sleeping children, and scare those who accompany me
down to the workshop (ever had a frightened child try to depart the
kiddie-backpack vertically while you're using a jigsaw? Not fun). Hand a
kid an old file and some scrap wood and he can entertain himself for,
oh, up to two minutes at a time
I have a small workshop, which started off as a comfy little space, but
as tools and such have accumulated... well, it's getting rather cramped
now. My wife has not only given permission, but actively encouraged me
to build a new, far bigger shed... now I just need the time to get that
done. For some reason, working + helping to raise three little kids
keeps me pretty busy.
I'll try to get some piccies together of my collection* of restored,
to-be-restored and needs-no-restoration tools (amazing what some people
throw away - I was stunned to find my neighbour throwing out a box of
spokeshave, rasps, files, planes, drill bits, saws, knives etc recently).
Regards, Philip (enjoying being with 'my people')
* collection seems to be a loaded term - I mean simply that I have some
tools
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