[Patrick asks us to write of the voices we heard...]
First off, I'd like as many people to respond to this as possible,
especially the nearly 200 of you out there....
WHO HAVE NEVER POSTED A BIO!!
Yes, there are folks out there who have been subscribed to oldtools for a
loooong time, and have never said a peep. Shame on you :-).
Ah, the voices....
In my youth (before discovering that females were for more than playing
right field in a game of kickball), I was obsessed with two things:
sports, and building stuff. Most of my building mania was manifested in
plastic models (Monogram, the best), and the wood projects were with the
old man (I'll try not to retread too much of my bio). We stuck mostly to
carpentry, so I got a lot of practice hammering nails, using a hand saw,
and picking redwood splinters out of my fingers. As we worked, and my dad
would bring out one of his tools, he'd tell me, "Wagon (they called me
PaddyWagon... still do, dammit), this tool is older than you are," and
he'd proceed to give me a history of whatever it was.
It didn't matter if it was his brace and auger bits, B&D p*w*r drill, or
old Craftsman mitre box, I got a refresher on how he came across that
particular tool. I was at his shop just last weekend, and I recognized a
lot of his old stuff - one mint Stanley boxwood t-bevel, in particular.
He's taken good care of what he's got.
One thing we never bothered to figure out was the hand plane. He has an
old Stanley Handyman, which has never seen a honing stone. I remember tha
thing chattering like a mofo everytime I tried to use it. It wasn't until
I discovered rec.norm, and the rebellious Neanderthals, that I learned you
can adjust the depth of cut on a bench plane, without having to remove the
lever cap.
It's funny that Patrick would bring up this topic, because it was three
years ago this month, that I experienced my hand plane epiphany, when I
tried out my first toy from Mssr. Leach. It's the #8 you see me cradling
in the final scene of my Galootavision video shop tour. It fits my hand as
though I were born with it. Maybe that explains the dent in the side of my
head :-).
As Ralph told me way back when I posted about my infamous #8...
"Be careful Pat, first it's a nice jointer plane from Patrick, but soon
you'll be on a plane to Maine, to bid $1500 on a shoulder plane with ebony
infill."
I dunno, Ralph. Does bringing home a post drill and Emmert vise in my
luggage count?
Paddy, hears the voices every day... and they keep getting louder.
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