I have been lurking for a few weeks now, so its time for my neanderbio.
Although I have spent the last few years putting together a shop under the
influence of a heavy case of normitis and have a lot more heavy metal than
gloat material, I stumbled into the realization that I might be a galoot
through the back door. We traded in our big, old Victorian carpenter gothic
home for a bigger, older Federal house built somewhere between 1810 and 1820.
As a consequence, my aspirations as a furnituremaker shifted back in time to
18th and early 19th century periods. Subtle differences in cornice moldings
(such as elipse shapes rather than the circles on my routah bits), etc., got
me thinking about finding some early planes for such work [unfortunately, I do
a lot more aspiring than woodworking]. That, and a copy of Garrett Hack's
plane book for my birthday did it. Then, innocently surfing the wooden
corners of the web, I stumbled onto Galooteus maximus' page with a picture of
the Stealth Galoot hat. That did it. My first official purchase,
embarassingly, as a neonatal Galoot was the stealth hat instead of some gloat-
worthy tool. At least I am dressed for the occasion now.
Then, like a good omen, I discover the porch and, to my surprise, I find that
I am a humble subject in the PRINY realm where THE LISTSERV dwells.
When I am not dragging my knucles around the shop or making a stealth sortie
to an auction or garage sale, I am a professor of entomology (yes, bugs) at
Cornell University where I study the evolutionary history of beetles
associated with fungi (yet another preadaptation for things pertaining to
wood), teach courses on systematics or taxonomy (formal classification of
insects), and generally promote an appreciation for the role of taxonomy in
studies of "biodiversity."
Now, for my first public display of ignorance. I just purchased a box lot of
molding planes at an auction near Ithaca which raises several questions.
First, is there any single place to begin to learn something about the makers
of old molding planes. For example, among those in this box lot were several
by "N. Spaulding, Ithaca" and one each by "J. B. Dills" and "L. Safford".
Where do I begin to determine when these folks were making planes?
Second, several of these planes are in good shape, wedges and all, but are
missing their irons. In fact, only two out of the lot are complete. What is
the best strategy for replacing irons? Picking up trashed plane bodies?
Buying metal stock and fashioning my own? Does anyone sell "blanks" ready to
have a profile created on their tips?
I have not completed my transformation, since I find myself uttering the
occasional "arghh, arghh, arghh" in Tim Allen style over some electric
apprentice. But I sure enjoy the search for old tools and their feel in the
hand. Thanks to all of you who have built and populated the porch.
Quentin
aka dovetailed@a...
and qdw1@c...
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