OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

43491 Jeff Joslin <jjoslin@m...> 1998‑05‑19 Repost of my bio
I recently noticed that my bio isn't in the bio database at
http://www.pangea.com/~rock/oldtools/
because I originally posted it in January '96, before the database
existed.  Here's an updated version.

Vital statistics:  married, 30s, no kids yet.  Network prototyping
engineer.  User more than a collector.  User interests change on a
project-by-project basis; projects are Shaker- and Krenov-style
furniture.  Collection interests are Siegley bench planes and Starrett
machinist tools.

I've been woodworking for about eight years.  I seem to have a lot more
tools than completed projects.  In part, this was due to the influence
of Norm, who uses a different tool for each job.  A turning point for me
was a brief article in the back of Fine Woodworking a few years ago,
about a woodworking shop in the Middle East whose workers created
exquisite furniture using the crudest of tools.  I realized that I
needed to learn how to do things with what I have, not wait until I have
the perfect tool for each job.

Some lively hand-versus-power tool debates in rec.woodworking convinced
me that I should give hand tools a try.  Reading some Krenov served as
further inspiration, although some of the more arty-farty stuff made the
engineer in me gag.  At first I had a frustrating time doing anything
useful with hand tools, because I was progressing along the curve of
lacking the right tools, and then lacking the skill to tune and sharpen
them, and then lacking the knowledge of how to use them.  After lots of
time spent trying different sharpening techniques, I've gotten to the
point that I can fine-tune a plane or chisel so that it works pretty
well.  Now I'm learning to focus more on tool use and less on the tools
themselves.  I still have a ways to go, though.

I acquired the handiness gene from my father, who acquired it from his
father before him.  My great-grandfather, grandfather, and umpteen
great-aunts and uncles all worked at Cockshutt Plough.  I was startled
to learn recently just how many of my now-deceased great-uncles were
machinists of one stripe or another.  My mother's side carries the "a
hammer and a flat-bladed screwdriver are all the tools you'll ever need"
gene, but it appears to be recessive.

Jeff



Recent Bios FAQ