OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

27892 Russell, Lanny J <russelj@t...> 1997‑10‑07 Been caught! Gotta Bio

I give up!  Don't throw the spittoon at me.  I'm one of the 200.  I'll
Bio.

Hi my name is Lanny and I'm a chisel junkie.

I've been like the other 199, just lurkin' and stealing shamelessly from
the porch, so I guess now that I've been caught I better fess up.

I got my start in a pretty strange way though.  Ya see among my other
vices, err interests, I'm a competitive shooter.  I had no machinists
background but decided I could build that front sight base for my target
rifle if I just had a b*n* s*w with a metal cutting blade, so out I went
to procure same.  Built it too!  Then the light bulb went off and I
realized "hey I could make tables and things with this"  Wow.  Maybe I
could find a used t*b*l* s*w and do really neat things.  You know how
the story ends huh?  Before you could say kilowatts-per-hour my little
shop was screaming.  

Something was missing though and again you already know what that was.
The sense of creativity.  I was cutting and assembling, but not quite
creating.  Always surfin' FWW and the like, and gradually realized I was
picking out pieces that I really really liked, and they were always made
by that guy Shaker.  Whoever he was.  Very simple designs executed
eloquently.   They just sang of handwork and patience and care.  Don't
get the idea that I'm an accomplished Shaker 'replicator'  cause that's
far from the truth.  But I do have an occasional success.  

Somewhere in there I  needed a set of chisels to do dovetails, right?
Then another, then some old ones.  Really love the old ones, hate the
plastic handled ones.  Before you know it, MofA, IT,  flea markets,
garage sales, etc.  You should have picked up by now that I'm more of a
user than c*ll*ct*r,  but I do like nice user stuff.   

Old tool pickins are pretty slim here in the New Orleans area; but we do
get a lot of killer cypress.  N.O. being an old city is now going
through a period of losing many of its old houses (for various reasons),
but thankfully a lot of their old wood, millwork and hardware are being
saved and recycled for other houses and even furniture.  So what I lack
in rusty iron, I have available in longleaf pine, cypress, mahogany,
etc.  All old growth stuff.  Food ain't too shabby either.  (will trade
gumbo for iron)

Boring stuff:  I work for a "major" oil company, in computer mapping.
Began my work career (more than a few years ago) as a drafter, than
moved into the computer age.  (was that a forward step?)   SWMBO wasn't;
so now I don't have to lie when the UPS truck stops.  Why, I can even
bring tools in through the front door. :-)  I like it!

Where did all this come from (you asked?)  Well, this apple fell two
bounces from the tree.  My fondest early memories are of my Grandfather
(a frail man with thin gray hair and wire spectacles) in his tiny shop.
(He and my grandmother always spoke French when they didn't want the
kids to know what they were talking about)  In it he had a small
workbench and two armoires into which he built drawer after drawer
(complete with partitioned trays).  Each was filled with hand tools.  I
only remember one electric tool, an old Delta d/p.  All that stuff is
lost now.  I often wish I could go back for one more look.  And I'd like
to have been there when his stuff was split up and given away cause
whoever got it never did it justice.  

In my eyes he could make anything.  When I grow up I want to be just
like him.  

Lanny
                                             who's into long range
rifles, blues, shaker furniture, motorcycles and skirt chasin'

but not necessarily in that order ;-)



Recent Bios FAQ