Dave Cav
12-15-2007, 6:52 PM
Hi, Folks,
This is a quick introduction; I am also posting a question in on band saws in a more appropriate forum.
I have been making sawdust on a more or less serious amateur basis for twenty-five years or so; I'm 54 now, and plan to do it for a long time to come. I started out with the usual collection of Sears routers and Stanley hardware store chisels, but in the last ten to fifteen years or so have been working to take things to the next level. Over the past few years I started to ....accumulate, that's it... Stanley planes, educating myself via Blood & Gore, starting out at local flea markets and antique stores, and getting a number of items from Pat L. and Tom B., who are both wonderful to deal with. I have two more or less complete (less the #1s) sets of vintage Baileys, and now I am working on my collection, sorry, accumulation, of Bedrocks. The Bedrocks have become my user planes, and I have a 603, 604, 605, 606 and 607, all with Hock irons, and I love them. Given the cost and relative scarcity of the smaller and fractional Bedrocks, my upcoming additions may have bronze lever caps, although I AM lusting over Pat Leach's beautiful 601.
After a stretch in the Navy in the early '70s and college I got involved in facilities maintenance management. I've done that in varying roles for the last 30 years, and this year I decided it was time for a change. I was the facilities operations manager for a medium sized NW Washington school district, one of the high school shop teachers quit last year, and to make a long, tiresome story short, I'm now teaching high school shop, mostly wood, but I'm trying to bring the metals program up, too. If there are any other shop teachers on the list I would love to hear from you. Anyway, after spending all day/week listening to screaming routers and other power tools, I am more and more inclined to spend my weekend and off time making stuff by less noisy means. I plan to work on acquiring a few rabbet, shoulder and similar planes and improving my chisel collection, and concentrate on furniture making, mostly Arts and Crafts/Mission stuff in the years to come. I have made a few pieces already and really enjoy it. I still use my table saw and other power tools as appropriate for preparing stock, but I'm getting away from the noisy portable stuff.
FWIW, my great grandfather, Gus Arnold, was a furniture maker in Lebanon, PA around the turn of the century. He worked for a furniture store that I understand may still be in operation, and his job was to work in the back and make stuff for the store to sell. He was quite an accomplished craftsman, and we still have a number of his pieces in our family. Unfortunately I never met him, and all of his tools have long been dispersed. My dad, following a career in the Army, was a high school teacher, including industrial arts/shop, and following his retirement he and my mom had a pretty successful retirement business making and wholesaling "crafts" type woodworking, small shelves, wall hangings, toys, whirlygigs, that kind of stuff. It was really popular in the '80s and '90s and while it didn't make them rich it kept them busy and added to the retirement income. Dad also apparently also bought every woody he ever saw in a flea market (assuming they were priced right) and I'll eventually end up with them one day.
That's enough for now;
Regards
Dave C
This is a quick introduction; I am also posting a question in on band saws in a more appropriate forum.
I have been making sawdust on a more or less serious amateur basis for twenty-five years or so; I'm 54 now, and plan to do it for a long time to come. I started out with the usual collection of Sears routers and Stanley hardware store chisels, but in the last ten to fifteen years or so have been working to take things to the next level. Over the past few years I started to ....accumulate, that's it... Stanley planes, educating myself via Blood & Gore, starting out at local flea markets and antique stores, and getting a number of items from Pat L. and Tom B., who are both wonderful to deal with. I have two more or less complete (less the #1s) sets of vintage Baileys, and now I am working on my collection, sorry, accumulation, of Bedrocks. The Bedrocks have become my user planes, and I have a 603, 604, 605, 606 and 607, all with Hock irons, and I love them. Given the cost and relative scarcity of the smaller and fractional Bedrocks, my upcoming additions may have bronze lever caps, although I AM lusting over Pat Leach's beautiful 601.
After a stretch in the Navy in the early '70s and college I got involved in facilities maintenance management. I've done that in varying roles for the last 30 years, and this year I decided it was time for a change. I was the facilities operations manager for a medium sized NW Washington school district, one of the high school shop teachers quit last year, and to make a long, tiresome story short, I'm now teaching high school shop, mostly wood, but I'm trying to bring the metals program up, too. If there are any other shop teachers on the list I would love to hear from you. Anyway, after spending all day/week listening to screaming routers and other power tools, I am more and more inclined to spend my weekend and off time making stuff by less noisy means. I plan to work on acquiring a few rabbet, shoulder and similar planes and improving my chisel collection, and concentrate on furniture making, mostly Arts and Crafts/Mission stuff in the years to come. I have made a few pieces already and really enjoy it. I still use my table saw and other power tools as appropriate for preparing stock, but I'm getting away from the noisy portable stuff.
FWIW, my great grandfather, Gus Arnold, was a furniture maker in Lebanon, PA around the turn of the century. He worked for a furniture store that I understand may still be in operation, and his job was to work in the back and make stuff for the store to sell. He was quite an accomplished craftsman, and we still have a number of his pieces in our family. Unfortunately I never met him, and all of his tools have long been dispersed. My dad, following a career in the Army, was a high school teacher, including industrial arts/shop, and following his retirement he and my mom had a pretty successful retirement business making and wholesaling "crafts" type woodworking, small shelves, wall hangings, toys, whirlygigs, that kind of stuff. It was really popular in the '80s and '90s and while it didn't make them rich it kept them busy and added to the retirement income. Dad also apparently also bought every woody he ever saw in a flea market (assuming they were priced right) and I'll eventually end up with them one day.
That's enough for now;
Regards
Dave C