I have been an accumulator for a looong time, but I think it finally paid off.

I believe the year was 1972 - 46 years ago. I was newly married (I got my trophy
wife the first time) and had used my dad’s workbench and scanty tools since I
was a kid - so time to set up shop!  I rented a garage 1/2 block from our
apartment in Bristol, north of Philly, built a workbench of 2X4’s and plywood,
and got a vice and a few “necessary” tools at garbage sales.  I bought a brace
and it turns out it is a North 2100 that I still use.  I got a #6 and a #8 plane
because, well everybody needs them.  Turns out it is a Sargent 424 (#8) in primo
condition, and a Stanley type 5, first lateral, #6 and I have never seen another
type 5 in the wild.  I also bought a Stanley 55 from the original owner, well
used in a wooden box for $10, and was amazed when I sold it 6 months later for
$40.  Needing more tools post haste, I then went down to Silvo Hardware in
Philly.

Silvo at the time was this enormous tools supplier downtown Philadelphia that
did mostly mail order and deliveries to big companies.  They weren't set up for
a young dolt who hardly knew the jargon to come in and buy tools over the
counter.  I went through one of their catalogs (they had several types) and
stocked up.  I got a 1/2” Stanley 750 new out of a box of about 8 or 10 thinking
“they are so pretty I should buy them all”. but of course I didn't.  I got a
maroon 9-1/2 block plane which my brother still uses for maintaining his
barn/house.  I got a Stanley 59 dowel jig because everybody used dowels to build
furniture, right?  Oh, and I threw in a box of dowel centers, little plugs that
fit in a hole and allow you to press that piece against its mating piece so it
leaves a little dimple where you drill the corresponding hole.  I did not drill
more than a dozen holes with that jig and I can't think of a time where I
actually used the dowel centers.  (anybody need a one-owner Stanley 59 dowelling
jig?)

So fast forward to 2018.  A couple of weeks ago my daughter was in town to raid
my shop for tools for a Ukulele building class she is giving for young girls in
Brooklyn NY.  One of the big supply houses donated 15 ukulele kits and lots of
tools and sandpaper and miscellany.  I managed to find 10 1/2” chisels (I think
7 1/2” and 3 3/4”) that I put an edge on them.  We threw a bunch of clamps in a
box, and we cut various boards and battens to use as jigs and mounts.  Then she
pulled out one of the necks from the a kit and we found it had 2 holes drilled
in it for dowels.  The directions say to drill a hole in the body 1/2” down from
the top and one 1-1/4” down from the top.  We measured the location of the holes
and they were not those dimensions.  We looked at a second one, and they were a
little different than the first.  Oh oh.

So a light bulb went off in my head - that’s what a dowel center is for!!!!!  I
had re-organized my shop about 2 years ago and remembered tight where they were.

Yesterday I made a trip to Brooklyn to help with the neck setting - drilling the
2 holes.  The neck has to point in the right direction, both left and right and
up and down.   My daughter and I got a system going and drilled all 10 necks
successfully.  And I got to use a tool I have had for 46 years just waiting for
me.  And yes, I gave them to her to put in her tool kit for future uke building.


Ed Minch