OldTools Archive

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10068 S. Patrick Green <pgreen@p...> 1996‑11‑25 Bio
Good Hearted Galoots - 

Well, after lurking for a few months, buyin' some iron, and learnin' alot, I
figured I'd step up, say hey, and introduce myself.

Cliff Notes Version - West Virginian transplanted in Alaska, field
biologist, I like wood and iron

I'm a West Virginian and currently, I'm a field ornithologist with the US
Forest Service (No, I've never done Spotted Owl reasearch ;)).  I'm up here
in Cordova, Alaska working out of the Copper River Delta Institute - a small
research station on the shores of Prince William Sound.

This list is a godsend to isolated galoots like myself.  The only oldtools
you find here in Cordova are fishhooks and net needles.  If by chance there
ever was a plane in this town it has long since rusted into an amorphous
blob of oxidized iron (lot of rain up here, How much? You don't want to
know. ;))  The Alaskan idea of a plane: D-9 Cat (I guess that would be a
bullnose or maybe a chisel plane).

I think I got my first handtools when I was about 7yrs. old - kids size
carpenter's toolbox with the basics.  At 10, I was the arms merchant for the
neighborhood, manufacturing toy wooden guns for all the kids.  I quickly
drifted into p*w*r tools (the most detrimental thing I ever did to my
concept of percision joinery was buy that Crapsman t*bl* saw).  Then I found
Roy - the WWS, Saturdays at 1500hrs.  Man, that was what I wanted to do.  So
I started acquire a few basic planes, chisels, and saws. My first all
handtool project? a dogwood captive-wedge marking gauge (from tree to tool -
all by hand).  However, the few years I spent bouncin' around the country
(drove from up here to the Florida Keys once - talk about climate shock)
left little time or room for woodworking (could fit my whole life into the
bed of a S-10 pickup then).  

Well, I've been in one place for awhile now, got access to a shop at work,
and have started to get back into wood pretty heavily.  (Spent last night
tapering 8' 2x4's with a #5 & #7 and a little p*w*r help, don't have a
decent adze yet to hog off waste.  Gotta love bein' anckle deep in
shavings.).  I even done went off and got myself my very own SWMBO.  We are
thinking about career changes and a move back east and I am looking _very_
seriously at galootin' full time.  The plan is to ease into itgradually and
if it doesn't work I'll always have birds and biology in my hip pocket to
help out.

I've thought about contributing to the list and asking questions (way more
questions than contributions) but like a good apprentice I've checked the
pages o'lore maintained by many knowledgeable neanderthals and have found my
topics beat to death with a commander (or a beetle or a really big mallet)
so I've just preserved bandwidth and kept my mouth shut.  Thanks guys for
archiving the info - what a great resource.

Patrick Green
Cordova, AK

What the world needs is a biger hammer.

Patrick
Cordova, Alaska

"What the world needs is a bigger hammer."



Recent Bios FAQ