OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

153266 Alex Moseley <alex_moseley@y...> 2005‑12‑09 Out from under the porch...
Howdy, porch-dwellers!

I've been napping under the porch for a few weeks now, just absorbing
everything, and it seemed like a good time to introduce myself. I'm 30
years old, a husband and father of two GITs. By trade, I'm a computer
dork, but woodworking, rust hunting, and fatherhood are what make me
come alive these days.

I'm a third-generation wood butcher, born and bred in Independence, MO.
Technically probably forth-generation - I never got to meet great-
grandpa, but I gather he was just as interested in buying tools as he
was in using them... ;)

I still use the combination square and tape measurer my dad gave me when
I was about 10 years old. He may not remember giving them to me, but I
remember getting them. :) Lesson learned, because my 5-year-old daughter
has her own tool tote outfitted with hammer, tape measurer, and of
course, safety glasses.

Next up for her, either an MF egg-beater drill, or a "pink tool belt"
from www.pinktoolbelts.com (not affiliated, just looking for a way to
distract my daughter from the "D!$ney Pr!nce$$" marketing machine). My
two-year-old is starting to figure out the Little Tykes tools, so
there's hope for him yet. The other night he had on a Santa hat and was
pounding away with the plastic hammer. I asked him if he was one of
Santa's helpers, and he said "no, I'm Santa."

I caught the old tool bug in earnest a little over a year ago, when I
saw a Sweetheart-era Stanley jack plane in an antique store called "Old
Geezer's Mantiques" (the name says it all). Soon after, I picked up a 60
1/2 with the much-maligned maroon japanning, and was off and running.

A few months later, I developed an interest in making tools - I made a
kebiki dai (Japanese-style cutting gauge) from scraps of white oak. The
plan was straight out of a FWW article, but I ground my blade from an
old thickness planer knife. See, machinery is good for something! ;)

I can't say I'm as die-hard a galoot as some. I happily acquired a
cabinet saw (3hp 220v unisaw), thickness planer, and jointer (of the
tailed variety) this year, and rewired my garage for 220V to support the
saw. SWMBO still intends to park her car in this same one-car garage,
once I get around to fixing the garage door opener, so I'm probably done
acquiring machinery for a while. So now I'm turning my full attention to
the finer things in life (smoothing planes and spokeshaves and hand
saws, oh my!).

My most recent acquisitions include a couple of cc hand saws (can't see
etching through the rust yet - will try a CA bath when I can get ahold
of the ingredients) an unmarked saw vise resembling the Disston #2, a
Disston saw set (okay, so I admit, the recent thread on saw sharpening
piqued my interest!), a Sweetheart-era #25 T-bevel, and a metal
spokeshave with no maker's mark. I'll have to post a pic of the
spokeshave sometime, as I'm curious to identify it (and acquire a more
viable blade).

Best Regards, Alex Moseley rust hunting in Independence, MO

Just say SWMBO does not necessarily mean "she who must be omniscient".

Alex Moseley | third-generation woodworker | Independence, Missouri |
alex_moseley@y...


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Recent Bios FAQ