OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

141406 roygriggs@v... 2005‑02‑01 Re: New Bio
GG,
 Well I might as well get in the running for the saw, I can always use
another saw.
 I have been lurking and commenting on the list for awhile now, don't
really know if you could call it contributing.
 My name is Roy Griggs and I am 55 years old, was born and raised in Texas
with all that,that entails, and have been doing woodworking in one form or
another all my life. Mother says that when I was 4 I came running in the
house and told her "I hit my damn finger with the damn hammer and damn it
hurts"...my father caught some flak for that one. SWAMBO and I live in
Broken Arrow, Ok., where the Co. I used to work for moved us from
Houston, Tx. I was fortunate enough to get an unattached 1500 sq. ft.
shop(30 x 50)
when we moved here and SWMBO got the garage for the first time in 28 yrs.
of marriage. SWMBO is the artistic side of me and we often collabrate on
design. She started college in art but wound up with 2 degrees in
education and has been a Special Education teacher for almost 30 years. I
was a drafter/designer in the petro-chem industry for 20 plus years but
recently changed profession.
 After many years of collecting a large assemblage of power tools and many
years of using same I am rediscovering the joy of using hand tools. As of
yet, I haven't built anything significant using only hand tools, but I am
in the planing stages of a combination seat/hamper for our guest
bathroom.
The project itself is rather straight forward so mainly what the planing
entails is figuring out how to do it without using power tools.
 I am extremely fortunate in that SWMBO supports and encourages my
additiction to tools(she has bought many an aniv., birthday, and X-mas
present out of one tool catalogue or another).
 Among my many voyages into tool usage I have been a steel fabricator,
welder, framer,roofer done cabinate work and trim carpentry. When I was
much younger I worked in a furniture repair and refinishing shop and tho
most of the work was insurance work there were a few really nice antiques
that came to the shop for one thing or another. Unfortunatly it didn't
really pay the bills so I moved on.
  Unlike many on the list I have always tried to keep my
hobby(woodworking) just that, a hobby. I make presents and do favors but
have always resisted selling my work. I won't go into the mental process
that led me to that position except to say I have only to meet my own
demands, and expectations.
 Some of my stuff is on Galoot Image Central if anyone cares to look tho
don't expect to much as I would term myself as a mediocre woodworker at
best, but am always trying to improve.
 This list has provided me with much inspiration and many things I "NEED"
to do. Many on the list have inspired me to do things that I had not
tried yet, some have been succesful and some not so, tho even the
failures have provided valuable experience.
 I would place myself squarely in wood hoarder and tool collector
catagory. Not that I have much more than a users' collection of tools but
other than a shovel and posthole digger I've never met a tool I didn't
like. I just flat like wood and tend to buy beautiful wood whether I have
a use for it or not. Sound familiar? Heck, I can't even leave the
firewood pile alone. (The rick I got Sunday is full of Osage Orange and
Cedar.)

Roy Griggs

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Recent Bios FAQ