OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

153348 "Alan Perreault" <alan.perreault@v...> 2005‑12‑11 Bio Update
Friends & Lovers of Wood Grain & Iron,

So, what's knew this side of Wachusett Mountain you ask? Well, the big story
is that I have decided to get rid of all my tools, and I am now just going
to collect anvils, over 100 pounds. This way I'll free up a lot of space 
currently taken up by all those saws and planes.

Wait, Wait! Hey, Quit That! Owe! I'm just kiddin', Really! Come on, get rid
of tools, that's crazy talk. What would all my Yankee ancestor say? My mom
once had over a hundred ice trays in her basement, cause they were all good.
Why would anyone want to accumulate stuff like that anyway?

I've been hangin' out heeya for a while now, and I can still say that the
folks here are all top notch. I am very impressed with everyone I have
conversed with off-line, and all the guys I have met at auctions and LFOD.
There is no better group anywhere. The knowledge I have gained by just
sittin' back and listenin' is amazing. I remember once upon a time when a
plane was just a plane, a saw just a saw, all the same. When I had no idea
how to sharpen anything. I thought you bought another saw when yours got 
dull.
When I used to hang out lookin' at mail order tool
catalogs, and wincing at the prices, not even knowing that I had a gold mine
of a flea just 10 minutes away. When I used to watch Norm spend an hour
fixin up a jig to guide one of those evil machines and didn't question it,
well, until I saw Brother Underhill do the same thing in 5 minutes with a
chisel and a stair saw. My friend Sweeney was helpin' me 10 years ago to put
up some plastic over a pictya window for the winta, when he asked me if I
had a block plane. I replied, "No, but I got a cheese grater." Sweeney
laughed for a half an hour. It's been a strange trip, from cheese graters to
knowin' what a Stanley #65 looks like, and why you WANT to bring it home. 
Again, thanks to everyone,  to the ListMoms, and to
those highly skilled craftsman who share their work and knowledge with the
rest of us. I hope that as my GITs get a little older, that I'll have more
time to spend building benches, saw tills (maybe a saw barn), making rustic
furniture, etc.

I think my path leads down that way, choppin' trees, makin' hewing benches
and shavin' horses. Axes and hatchets, can a man ever have too many axes? 
Why do I find axes so attractive, why do they feel so comfortable? I 
remember visiting Higgins Armory in Worcester, Mass, as a kid, and thinkin' 
that I wanted those big axes.

 I got most of the iron planes I want, or would ever need or use. Lately I
been thinkin' I need some woodies. All I got is a mixed set of beaders. I
sharpened up a Greenfield round, and was intrigued by it's action. Hmmm, is
that a slope ova heeya? Looks like it drops off right quick. I'm still (not 
often enough) playin' around with drawknife and spokeshave, fiddlin' on that 
Mountain Laurel walking stick. It seems to me that this could also be 
somewhat addictive.

Well, I wish I could hang out here all day, but I got mouths to feed, and a 
couple-o-packages to wrap.

Long live the Porch.

Al Perreault
Wachusett Galoot
Westminster, MA

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Recent Bios FAQ