OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

67813 "John Ruth" <johnrruth@h...> 1999‑09‑09 Bio: John R. Ruth
Bio for John R. Ruth, dated 31-AUG-99

Born 1955, Mt. Vernon NY.

Currently living in Woodbridge Township, NJ.
(Although my neighborhood gets its mail via the Metuchen P.O.)

I grew up under the tutelage of an electrician father, now age 86, who is
one of the handiest and most intellectual people I've ever known.  This
upbringing gave me an attitude that I can undertake almost anything, which
has proved to be manifestly not true in practice!  Pop had a basement shop
that included both old and new tools in several categories.  As a child, I
made all sorts of stuff such as wagons with wheels from baby carriages.  Pop
taught by helping me get started and then letting me do what I could by
myself.  If I didn't know how to do it, he'd pitch in, all the while showing
me how.

My mother was from the Aroostook region of Maine.  She was also fairly handy
and certainly very self-reliant.

I first became aware of the "fine tools" aspect of the woodworking hobby
while visiting the Marples- & Record- filled shop of a "friend of a friend"
who did woodworking as a hobby. This introduced me to the notion that high
quality tools make high-quality results more likely.  (I recall this man's
surname was Kramer, he lived in Rye, NY.  He moved long ago. I wish I could
thank him somehow.)

My great uncle Charlie also had an influence on my education in tools in
that he introduced me to wooden planes.  He had been a piano maker, and his
father had been a carriage maker.  One day, at about age 20, I was
struggling to make a new rudder for a wooden sailboat.  My father suggested
paying a visit to Uncle Charlie.  When I saw his shop, I was positively
bowled over. It didn't take but a few moments with one of his Hollow planes
to make the perplexing cut where the rudder met the rudder shaft.  (He had a
set of Hollows & Rounds that would bring tears to your eyes.  Uncle Charlie
also had a rack containing a matched set of Buck Brothers chisels,
V-chisels, and gouges that must have consisted of 50 pieces.)

I took a BS in Electrical Engineering at Clarkson College of Technology, now
Clarkson U., in Potsdam, NY.  After graduation, I was offered a job as a
software engineer, which set me on a course of being a software geek, even
though that wasn't the focus of my studies in college. (Don't take that as a
"cut" at Clarkson; I had a lot of respect for the school then and still do
today.)

With that previously-mentioned attitude that I could do anything, I bought a
two-bedroom handyman special house in Mahopac, NY a few years after
graduating from college.  It was unliveable when I bought it, as neither the
water (well) system nor the heating system worked. Everything had been
broken by ice. I got a good price on the house.  It took about two weeks of
hard work to get those basic systems functioning.  I did not know how to
sweat pipe when I started, but I knew I would learn.  I SLOWLY tackled the
rest of the place, and eventually got everything in fairly good order. I did
contract out an exterior door replacement and some window trim to my future
father-in-law, but did almost everything else myself.

Along the way, I acquired a Stanley 55 with four cutter boxes but missing
about six parts  The man who sold it to me called me up TEN YEARS LATER and
told me he'd found the missing parts and asked me to come pick them up!!!

I married the daughter of a very highly skilled carpenter in 1988.
Unfortunately, her father had not shared any of his skills with her, in the
belief that "girls should not be carpenters"  (I don't share this belief at
all.)

We had two children, both girls. These girls are 7 and 10 years old as I
write this.  We make birdhouses, boxes & stuff together.

I moved to central NJ several years ago, having found a nice job here, and
bought another handyman special house.  This proved to be a strategic
mistake.  I should have followed the advice of a friend who said that it's
almost impossible to work full time, fix up a handyman special, and raise a
family at once.  The work did not get accomplished fast enough to suit
SWMBO. She wanted me to hire contractors to do a number of things, which I
think I would have done eventually, but not until I'd had a shot at doing
what I COULD do first. She eventually filed for divorce, so I am now single
again.

Old Tools definitely played a part in her rejection; she felt I was spending
too much effort on the tools and not enough on the work itself.  An
oft-mentioned turning point was apparently reached when I bought out the
five remaining machines of a cabinet shop. She found this objectionable even
though the total spent was only $800. It was the concept of having a
substantial shop in the basement, rather than the monetary aspect, that got
under her skin.

>From my point of view, not completing the shop in the basement FIRST is a
tactical mistake that I've made at both my handyman special houses.

My great uncle died some years ago. His finer tools passed to his sons, but
they were kind enough to share some oddities with my father.  My father has
since passed these to me, and they form the center piece of my collection.
Nothing is particularly rare nor particularly pristine, but they have a
whole education locked in them for me to puzzle out.

I've supplemented that collection in large and small ways whenever possible;
I adopt any old tool any of my friends don't want, and I haunt tag sales and
flea markets. I find mostly user-grade tools. I'll even buy dogmeat or
parts/pieces if the price is low enough.  My electrolysis tank gets a lot of
use.

The other day my father gave me his Stanley #1, which I'll treasure forever
even though it has a big chip out of one cheek.  I can recall using that
very plane as a young boy.  Now I'll hover over my kids as they heft it. The
wheel will have turned full circle.

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com



Recent Bios FAQ