OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

184686 "Bryan Lloyd" <bclloyd@w...> 2008‑11‑16 Bryan Lloyd Bio Update
Galoots, It has been about two years since the last update. The GITs are
getting older but not quite yet able to join me in the shop, despite
their best efforts. I am still in the investment management business,
which has been quite a wild ride over the last 18 months. Let's just say
that I have a lot more grey hair today.

As in the past, I have been doing a lot of reading and not much posting.
Since the last update, I completed a shaker-style wall cabinet for
SWMBO. It took far too long to complete, but I am mostly happy with how
it turned out. In the future, I will stick with stock plans before I try
to design something myself. Earlier this year, I attended the
Foundational Course at Homestead Heritage in Texas. It was everything
that I had expected and more. We completed three projects in 5 days,
including a walnut occasional table that now sits in our family room.
The entire class was a great experience in joinery, from stopped dadoes,
mortise and tenons (haunched and through), and hand-cut through
dovetails, which was one of my favorite parts of the class. I also
learned techniques to cutting curves, tapering table legs, and more
efficient marking and layout methods. I highly recommend it to any
beginner/intermediate galoot. Our instructor was great and the classroom
environment was perfect. I will definitely be going back to take their
more advanced courses.

We finished our basement this summer and carved out room for a small
shop. Right now it has bare walls and a cork floor (to prevent nicked
edges if tools should roll of the bench). My tools are mostly on the
floor at this point. My previous shop was in the previously unfinished
basement, and the previous owner of the house had placed some pegboard
along one wall. So, most of my tools were hung on the peg board. I plan
on building all the fixtures/furniture for my new shop, so it looks like
a mess for now until I get things going. I am currently building a wall
shelf/cabinet that will hang over my bench and will hold my planes and
other tools that I use most often. I am dovetailing the main carcass as
practice for cutting dovetails. After that, I will work on a clamp rack,
a wood storage rack, a saw till, and probably some bookshelves for my
magazines and books. I am sure there will be more things to build after
that. Over the last year or so, I have accumulated a working set of
Witherby bevel edge chisels which I have yet to flatten and sharpen. I
also recently bought a scraper plane and a draw knife that need to be
cleaned up and sharpened as well. Hopefully by this time next year, my
shop will look more like an actual galoot workshop!

Regards,

Bryan Lloyd Naperville, IL
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Recent Bios FAQ