OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

2430 "Gary Meeker" <meekergl@CCVAX.CCS.CSUS.EDU> 1996‑07‑23 My Bio.
Hello Folks,

Been lurking for the last couple of weeks and I'm not sure I've got 
the hang of it yet, but here goes anyway....  My name is Gary Meeker 
and I've been teaching biology to college students for the past 30 years.  
The wife teaches biology too.  Have one daughter who is pursuing her 
Master's in public history and works at the State Archives.

I've been *accumulating* wooden planes and routers.  Get great 
pleasure out of carefully putting them back into working condition.  
Latest project was carving a closed tote for a 22" razee foreplane that 
I think is made of Lignum vitae.  Got the plane, in good shape but 
missing its tote, at an auction for $20.00.  Its new leadwood tote turned 
out really nice (by my standards).  It matches the original deep 
brown/black of the original body almost perfectly.  The salesperson 
at Woodcraft warned me about the "toxic dust" from the leadwood, but 
I had no dust problem while cutting out the piece with a coping saw 
(*pulled*, not pushed) and shaping it with rasps.  One question:  
I've been wiping Howard's "Feed N Wax" on some pieces that really 
need cleaning up.  Is Howard's considered kosher?  This is what I used 
to darken the new raw leadwood so that it matched the old Lignum.

IMHO I've never really been a Normite (did I get those terms right?).  
Never owned a Skilled Saw or Power Arm Flattener.  I confess my shop 
(half of our detached garage) does have a bench grinder and a drill press.  
I've never mastered the art of drilling a really straight hole freehand with 
an eggbeater and have recently been using the bench grinder to shape a 
set of replacement cutters for my wooden pattern maker's sole plane.  
This plane had five original soles but only one original cutter.  No, I know 
nothing about foundry work; I just thought this plane was really neat; 
so, I bought it for $75.00 last fall at my first P.A.S.T. tool meet in 
Healdsburg, CA.

I'm planning to try John DeLapp's grinding method using the Stephan 
abrasive disks chucked in my drill press.  Sounds like a really good idea.  
(What a great group this is!)  Went out and bought the 80- and 120-grit 
disks on sale at Woodcraft.  I'm a little concerned about safety with 
this setup, though.  I know the disks are steel-cored and shouldn't 
explode; but, what if the 1/2" bolt shank/arbor arrangement should break 
or come loose?  I'm thinking of building a shield/guard which would clamp 
to the drill press' plunger shaft thingy (where the depth gauge or 
mortising attachments attach).

Anyway,  I learned to work with hand tools as a kid growing up on the 
farm.  We didn't have eleketricity there until I was 14 years old.  Used to 
pump water from the cistern with a John Deer one-lunger.  I still have 
the old farm's draw knife and it's still in great shape.  It looks like a 
10" Keen Kutter, but is marked with an I superimposed on an H and 
straddling this logo is written "Our Own".  Still have the farm's anvil too.

Oh, yes...I was the guy who scarfed up the J. Donaldson screw-arm plow 
for $87.50 at Andy's in Santa Monica last Saturday.  (Sorry, 
Gary Ilmanen.)  Rest assured though, I won't wipe Howard's on it--
it doesn't need it!

Gary Meeker
Dept. of Biological Sciences
CSU Sacramento  95819
(clever, witty, saying yet to be composed)



Recent Bios FAQ