OK, time has com to update the bio. In honor of the upcoming
galootaclaus campaign, I thought I should close 6 years worth of gaps.
I lurked on the main list since 1999, and I’ve been on the Bay Area
Galoots list since early 2000, and finally got exposed to the light of
day at Roger Van Maren’s BAGathon (Sept 2000). Since then, I’ve attended
every BAGathon but 2003?, and loved every one. Met some great galoots,
saw fantastic tools and projects, and learned great new ways to do
things. I officially subscribed to the list in Oct 2000.
No real fond WW memories from early on, my first memorable WW task was
to blow the sawdust away from a cut Dad was making with a ji#$aw. I
failed at that, and it’s been a bumpy road from there.
Fast-forward 25+ years, I’m a homeowner, and have tried to do a few
projects with others’ p$%^r tools, mostly a disaster. Over the last
couple of years, I have acquired a few of those skeletons that are not
discussed in the polite company here on the porch for fear of offending
delicate ears (or eyeballs, as the case may be).
After acquiring said skeletons, I quickly discovered that planes could
be my friends to repair my foul ups created by said skeletons, but I
went about it in kind of a hard way. Knowing squat about WW, and less
about hand tools, I began to surf the net on my lunch breaks, and found
a few nifty sites. Badger Pond and WoodCentral both kept referring to
some place called the Galoot’s list. (I still miss Badger Pond, and
still check the archives disk occasionally) I started by buying a new
Record #5, and I was hooked. From the vast knowledge of the Internet, I
learned tuning a plane, Scary Sharp, plane typing & electrolysis. I’ve
bought a few old block planes, a herd of old bench planes (3-7, in
various flavors, with only a few duplicates), a few specialty planes
from LV, LN and HNT Gordon new when I didn’t think I could find or
afford them used, some Knight woodies, and some old woodies as well.
Have a basic core of saws, braces and bits, Yankee screwdrivers and
drills, mitre box and miter machine. I bought a Veritas bench since I
couldn’t find the time to build my own. I also bought an old cabinet
from the recycle yard to store tools over the bench, and its now bulging
at the seams.
I joined PAST a few years back to help expand my knowledge base a little
more, and meet a few more bad influences. Get together with a few BAGs
every so often at other events, sometimes just saying hey as we both
ogle some tool.
I previously completed a coffee table and an end table using a mix of
power and hand tools, finished using Jeff Jewitt’s mission style finish.
Started work on a round table in a similar style, and put that on hold a
few years back to deal with moving and getting a new house up to livable
condition. Hope to get back to it soon, replacing many of the power
techniques with some newly acquired molding planes.
My current woodworking is to buy an old tool, preferably cheaply, get it
tuned up, and actually use it to take shavings off some scrap board I’ve
got laying around. I’m greatly improving my edge jointing ability in
doing this, but not producing much.
I’ve started working on installing a tool chest underneath my bench,
since the herd of longer planes is hogging all the prime space in the
overhead cabinet, displacing some of the specialty planes that don’t
stack well. I’m pairing up with a Normite friend, building two cabinets
at once, similar layouts, trying to nudge him toward the slope every
chance I get. We’ve got the carcasses finished, and some of the drawers
glued up, still have to make the drawer faces.
My tools get loaned to my buddy a lot, often with a quick demo. I just
“talked” him out of buying a joiner after loaning him my Knight scrub.
Right now I’m trying to get him to buy the bandsaur so I can come over
and use it. I give him excess tools, sharpen the occasional garage sale
finds, and just gently herd him toward the wonderful view at the top of
this slope.
Due to the still ungodly high real estate prices here in the Bay area,
my shop is either in the driveway, or a corner of my garage. The garage
is where the Veritas bench resides, and shavings pile up on the floor.
The previously mentioned skeletons usually get dragged to the driveway
since they aren’t housebroken, and often leave messes on the floor.
Currently we’re working in the garage due to inclement weather, but need
to finish the project during the holidays. Will set up a page at
Wiktor’s soon, showing where my wood butchering gets done, and a few
projects. Fortunately, the new garage has some extra space in front of
where a car should go, so I don’t feel too bad about commandeering that
space.
Presently living in Half Moon Bay, CA, a rural town about 25 miles south
of the San Francisco border, about 45 minutes north of San Jose, right
on the ocean. Still having to deal with lots of rust and wind and
peeling paint and gopher problems. I’ve got my daughter trying a
comparative study on rust prevention for a science project at school,
but will probably need to repeat it with a little longer exposure window
to see where rust occurs inside cabinets and such.
Thanks for sharing the bandwidth and the information. And as always, a
“Job Well Done" to all the list Moms, both past and present. Thanks to
Jim E at GIC, Wiktor, Rob Weber and others for providing resources for
the common good, and to everyone who supplies info, inspiration and
humor here on a daily basis.
10-27-00 (updated 11/21/06)
--
Kirk Eppler in Half Moon Bay, CA
Process Development Engineering
Eppler.Kirk@g...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|