OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

27588 Joe Duclos <duclosj@c...> 1997‑10‑03 Re: The voices within...
I've been hearing voices all my life, but not so many since the medication.

I started getting interested in tools at about 12 yrs old. I was taking
woodshop in 7th & 8th grades and my grandfather had a small shop in his
basement. I made lots of little things then BUT I discovered GIRLS. Big
difference. Much more fun than sandpaper & saws. So I chased all the little
skirts around & partied my butt off. Over 25 yrs I made the single malt
scotch distillers very successfull. I finally got married at the tender age
of 41. I had made my quota & it was time to settle down and make babies. 

I always had the ww'ing bug in my head but when the 1st daughter arrived I
bought all the Crapsman stuff as most neophytes are prone to do. I was
selling big pieces(enter. ctrs, beds, tables, etc.). About 4 yrs ago the
family made a day trip to Hancock Shaker Village. We stopped at the
woodshop & TWANG--- I saw the bench. I yakked with the cabinetmaker du jour
for a couple of hours while the rest of my family enjoyed everything else.
When I left, I gave him my card with the fantasy in mind of working there.

Well damned if I didn't get a call the following spring for an interview. I
worked as the resident cabinetmaker there for 3 yrs. , but the handtool
epiphany really didn't hit me until my first day at HSV. When I saw all
the great workmanship I realized that the stuff done with handtools
glittered & shone in comparison to the stuff I was turning out on machines.

The real shock was leaving HSV at about the time I discovered the Porch. I
thought everybody had a Stanley 85 scraper to use. I thought everybody had
two 12 ft workbenches at their disposal. I thought everybody had a treadle
lathe.

Thank God for the Porch & FMM.

Joe Duclos
Resident Cabinetmaker
My House



Recent Bios FAQ