Hello all!
    I have been lurking a bit now, and have even ventured a post.  Figured I 
would bgo ahead and get this bio thingy over with.
    I should mention right off the block that I am not a Galoot.  At least 
not a very good one.  I may in fact be a neanderthal, but that is still 
under consideration.  I have already made several grievous errors in regards 
to posting my bio and such, bear with me, I am Y1k compatible.
    I came into this world when Elvis was already fat.  The full 
implications of this have still not made themselves apparent to me.  My 
father was a machinist/fabricator who took up artist blacksmithing as a 
hobby.  My folks split when I was young, and my mother remarried a 
carpenter.  The resulting battle between the two older males in my life 
turned out to be good for me.  Each one tried desperately to teach and 
interest me in their respective craft as a way to show they were the better 
man.  Although I can't say I took full advantage of this situation at the 
time, I have always always enjoyed building things and have done so for as 
long as I can remember. Through the end of high school and through my 
college years I worked and studied with various folks around the country. 
(The bulk of my training has been through apprenticeship)After those five 
years of travel(While in college) I moved back home to upstate New York and 
started a homestead and blacksmith shop.  The very next year I landed an 
apprenticeship with a master smith at an historic site.  The plan was to go 
for 1 or two years and return to the homestead.  This is my fifth year and I 
have no plans to leave until forced.  This past winter was spent in Europe, 
travelling to different shops and looking at the vast stores of artifacts 
which rest in museums over seas. Last year the master handed the keys to the 
place over to me and went into semi-retirement.  I can only hope to carry a 
fraction of what he has accomplished forward, and to keep him around for as 
long as possible.  That brings me to the present, a 27 yrs. old professional 
blacksmith, amateur woodworker.(You won dad!)
If you are interested in seeing some of my work, there are a few things at:

http://groups.msn.com/StacyandMichael

This is a free site and serves mainly as a cache for pics until I get my 
site up.  As such I apologize for its slovenlyness.   I have enjoyed the 
humor and information very much in the time I have been lurking and hope I 
can give something as well.  As I do not work in the computer industry, and 
less than .05% of my tooling is comprised of doubles, I feel I may not make 
the best Galoot.  As someone who has a background, and interest in historic 
tooling and methods, I can hopefully be of service.  Will this esteemed 
group allow a lowly mechanic in their midst?  (If it's a problem I can bring 
my own midst.)

Michael McCarthy
Blacksmith
The Farmer's Museum

_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

My parents taught at the American School in Lahore,
Pakistan from 1997-2001. When they needed some
cabinets made to store my mom's shoes they called in
the carpenter who, in a couple of days, assembled a
custom-built shoe cabinet to hold over 100 pairs
(filled very quickly) using no power tools, no plans,
no bench and only a few tools out in the driveway of
my parents' house. They also had an Afghan refugee who
they regularly commissioned to make tables and things.
They just showed him pictures of furniture in
magazines and asked him to make something similar. His
take on ball-and-claw-foot cabriole legs is quite, um,
unique. They definitely fit the 4'x6' inlaid-stone top
they had the table built for. It's not of the highest
quality of furniture making, but the wood is local
rosewood and it is solid. 

AAAndrew
Still struggling to find time to get back to making
his tv table in Durham, NC.

--- vladimir spehar  wrote:
> Omi,
> 
> Welcome.
> 
> Your carpenter story reminds me of when my mother
> and
> father needed to build a barn in Croatia.  My dad
> felled the logs (apparently we had the best bush lot
> around - it's still talked about today), both of
> them
> put the logs on the ox driven wagon and drove them
> to
> Slovenia to get them cut into boards.  They brought
> them back the next day and started to assembled the
> barn.  Just some outstanding stuff.  I suppose my
> dad
> had his fill of WW cuz he refuses to do any of it
> today.
> 
> Thank God for Canada - it's a lot easier for them
> here.
> 
> Vlad 
> 
> 
> 
> --- Omi Chandiramani 
> wrote:
> > Hello GG's, 
> > 
> > My name is Omi Chandiramani, and I live in Santa
> > Cruz, California, USA, 
> > deep in old tool hell.
> > 
> > I grew up in Bangalore, India, which is where I
> > first got interested in
> > woodworking. It happened one summer when my dad
> > hired a carpenter to build
> > a couple of desks for me and my brother and
> sister.
> > I was about 12. This
> > fellow would show up at our house with his *small*
> > bag of tools every
> > morning. He had 2 planes (both woodies, probably
> > something he made), a bow
> > drill with a few bits, 2 chisels, a mallet, a
> tape,
> > a saw, and not much
> > else. He would sit on the floor of our balcony and
> > work on the desks, at
> > times using his entire body to hold and work on
> the
> > piece at hand. I
> > clearly remeber him once holding a piece with his
> > toes as he worked on a
> > detail with his hands. He didn't like to talk
> much,
> > so I would just watch
> > him for hours. The desks were done in about 10
> days,
> > and they are still in
> > use. After that, I started a small tool bag of my
> > own.. 
> > 
> > Fast forward to many years laters, zooming past
> > college (when I moved to
> > the US, and was too poor to buy anything), past
> the
> > first few years of
> > working (not poor, but didn't think I could do
> much
> > in my studio, silly
> > me), past marriage and 3 kids, to the first time I
> > was living in a house
> > again which had space for woodworking. I was poor
> > again (see the part
> > about marriage and kids), but if I couldn't start
> > then, I never would. So
> > I made a list of tools I wanted for my birthday
> and
> > gave it to my family.  
> > I found the plans for Bobs "Good, Fast, and Cheap
> > Bench" and went to the
> > lumber yard. I built most of it in the next few
> > weekends, but had to wait
> > till the next fathers day to get the vice that I
> > wanted. Flattening the
> > top was the first time I had used a plane for more
> > than a couple of
> > minutes, and it was a sheer joy. Even the GITs
> loved
> > the shavings. Of 
> > course, then I needed more tools to actually use
> the
> > bench, and you all
> > know how that goes. Thanks SGFH!!
> > 
> > Eventually my FIL found out about my love for hand
> > tools.. and it turns
> > out that *his* father was a primo-galoot. So now
> > every birthday, I get a
> > little galootish present from him.. a brace last
> > year, a block plane this
> > year. I keep wondering if there is a big chest of
> > goodies somewhere that
> > he is slowly giving me.. but I dont want to push
> it.
> >  Remember the goose
> > which lay golden eggs story? These tools are the
> > pride and joy of my shop.
> > 
> > Now I have a small cozy shop (about 12'x14') with
> a
> > fair amount of tools..  
> > and not enough completed projects to justify them,
> > but please don't tell
> > You Know Who. I often feel a bit ashamed when I
> > think of that carpenter in
> > Bangalore who did so much with just a few tools in
> > his bag.. and not even
> > a bench. And then I do something silly like
> swearing
> > not to buy another
> > tool until another project is completed. You all
> > know how well that goes. 
> > Thanks SGFH!
> > 
> > When I grow up and become a real galoot (the kind
> > whose projects don't
> > *all* look like a "first project"), I hope to
> build
> > a lathe of some kind.
> > I did a lot of ceramics for a few years, and doing
> > something similar with
> > wood really interests me. I've been thinking of a
> > regular treadle lathe,
> > but last week I saw a pole lathe on Roys show that
> > looked pretty
> > interesting too.
> > 
> > Despite the tools and a few projects I still feel
> > more like one of my
> > GITs, than a galoot when I'm in my shop. I have so
> > much to learn. Most of
> > what I've learnt comes from this list, Tage Frid,
> > Roy Underhill, the
> > Handplane Book (thanks Mr. Hack), and Mr. Dunbar,
> in
> > that order.
> > 
> > As I have no one to learn from in person, finding
> > this list was truly one
> > of the best things to happen to my woodworking
> > hobby. Meeting the Bay Area
> > Galoots last September was fantastic, and its too
> > long till we meet again
> > next year.
> > 
> > Thanks again to all present and past galoots who
> > have made the list and 
> > its archives what it is.
> > 
> > Omi
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Archive:
> >
> http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/
> > To unsubscribe or change options, use the web
> > interface:
> >    
>
http://galoots.law.cornell.edu:81/read/?forum=oldtools
> 
> 
> =====
> 
> Cheers.
> 
> Vladimir (Vlad) Spehar
> 
> Spehar ToolWorks.
> 
> 
>
______________________________________________________________________
> 
> Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca
> 
> Archive:
> http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/
> To unsubscribe or change options, use the web
> interface:
>    
http://galoots.law.cornell.edu:81/read/?forum=oldtools

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now
http://companion.yahoo.com/

Omi,

Welcome.

Your carpenter story reminds me of when my mother and
father needed to build a barn in Croatia.  My dad
felled the logs (apparently we had the best bush lot
around - it's still talked about today), both of them
put the logs on the ox driven wagon and drove them to
Slovenia to get them cut into boards.  They brought
them back the next day and started to assembled the
barn.  Just some outstanding stuff.  I suppose my dad
had his fill of WW cuz he refuses to do any of it
today.

Thank God for Canada - it's a lot easier for them
here.

Vlad 

--- Omi Chandiramani  wrote:
> Hello GG's, 
> 
> My name is Omi Chandiramani, and I live in Santa
> Cruz, California, USA, 
> deep in old tool hell.
> 
> I grew up in Bangalore, India, which is where I
> first got interested in
> woodworking. It happened one summer when my dad
> hired a carpenter to build
> a couple of desks for me and my brother and sister.
> I was about 12. This
> fellow would show up at our house with his *small*
> bag of tools every
> morning. He had 2 planes (both woodies, probably
> something he made), a bow
> drill with a few bits, 2 chisels, a mallet, a tape,
> a saw, and not much
> else. He would sit on the floor of our balcony and
> work on the desks, at
> times using his entire body to hold and work on the
> piece at hand. I
> clearly remeber him once holding a piece with his
> toes as he worked on a
> detail with his hands. He didn't like to talk much,
> so I would just watch
> him for hours. The desks were done in about 10 days,
> and they are still in
> use. After that, I started a small tool bag of my
> own.. 
> 
> Fast forward to many years laters, zooming past
> college (when I moved to
> the US, and was too poor to buy anything), past the
> first few years of
> working (not poor, but didn't think I could do much
> in my studio, silly
> me), past marriage and 3 kids, to the first time I
> was living in a house
> again which had space for woodworking. I was poor
> again (see the part
> about marriage and kids), but if I couldn't start
> then, I never would. So
> I made a list of tools I wanted for my birthday and
> gave it to my family.  
> I found the plans for Bobs "Good, Fast, and Cheap
> Bench" and went to the
> lumber yard. I built most of it in the next few
> weekends, but had to wait
> till the next fathers day to get the vice that I
> wanted. Flattening the
> top was the first time I had used a plane for more
> than a couple of
> minutes, and it was a sheer joy. Even the GITs loved
> the shavings. Of 
> course, then I needed more tools to actually use the
> bench, and you all
> know how that goes. Thanks SGFH!!
> 
> Eventually my FIL found out about my love for hand
> tools.. and it turns
> out that *his* father was a primo-galoot. So now
> every birthday, I get a
> little galootish present from him.. a brace last
> year, a block plane this
> year. I keep wondering if there is a big chest of
> goodies somewhere that
> he is slowly giving me.. but I dont want to push it.
>  Remember the goose
> which lay golden eggs story? These tools are the
> pride and joy of my shop.
> 
> Now I have a small cozy shop (about 12'x14') with a
> fair amount of tools..  
> and not enough completed projects to justify them,
> but please don't tell
> You Know Who. I often feel a bit ashamed when I
> think of that carpenter in
> Bangalore who did so much with just a few tools in
> his bag.. and not even
> a bench. And then I do something silly like swearing
> not to buy another
> tool until another project is completed. You all
> know how well that goes. 
> Thanks SGFH!
> 
> When I grow up and become a real galoot (the kind
> whose projects don't
> *all* look like a "first project"), I hope to build
> a lathe of some kind.
> I did a lot of ceramics for a few years, and doing
> something similar with
> wood really interests me. I've been thinking of a
> regular treadle lathe,
> but last week I saw a pole lathe on Roys show that
> looked pretty
> interesting too.
> 
> Despite the tools and a few projects I still feel
> more like one of my
> GITs, than a galoot when I'm in my shop. I have so
> much to learn. Most of
> what I've learnt comes from this list, Tage Frid,
> Roy Underhill, the
> Handplane Book (thanks Mr. Hack), and Mr. Dunbar, in
> that order.
> 
> As I have no one to learn from in person, finding
> this list was truly one
> of the best things to happen to my woodworking
> hobby. Meeting the Bay Area
> Galoots last September was fantastic, and its too
> long till we meet again
> next year.
> 
> Thanks again to all present and past galoots who
> have made the list and 
> its archives what it is.
> 
> Omi
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Archive:
> http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/
> To unsubscribe or change options, use the web
> interface:
>    
http://galoots.law.cornell.edu:81/read/?forum=oldtools 

=====

Cheers.

Vladimir (Vlad) Spehar

Spehar ToolWorks.

______________________________________________________________________ 
Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

Greetings, Omi. Welcome to the porch. Always happy to help folks down the
slippery slope. You may be in Old Tool Heck, but you're just over the
mountains from Wine Heaven - the little-known (outside of NoCal) Livermore
Valley. Yum.

-- 
Steve - another Kokomo galoot
who's hoping to take a business trip to Pleasanton, CA again soon

ALL these BIOs!

This GREAT!

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Midkiff [mailto:annarborandrew@y...]
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 5:42 PM
To: oldtools
Subject: Re: [oldtools] Bio

My parents taught at the American School in Lahore,
Pakistan from 1997-2001. When they needed some
cabinets made to store my mom's shoes they called in
the carpenter who, in a couple of days, assembled a
custom-built shoe cabinet to hold over 100 pairs
(filled very quickly) using no power tools, no plans,
no bench and only a few tools out in the driveway of
my parents' house. They also had an Afghan refugee who
they regularly commissioned to make tables and things.
They just showed him pictures of furniture in
magazines and asked him to make something similar. His
take on ball-and-claw-foot cabriole legs is quite, um,
unique. They definitely fit the 4'x6' inlaid-stone top
they had the table built for. It's not of the highest
quality of furniture making, but the wood is local
rosewood and it is solid. 

AAAndrew
Still struggling to find time to get back to making
his tv table in Durham, NC.
> 
> 

Omi,

Welcome to the list!  Your story of the carpenter reminds me of a
fascinating article lute builder Larry Brown wrote in the 1970's about
traditional sitar making (he was studying all kinds of traditional luthiery
techniques while travelling in the Middle East and India, IIRC).  It seems
the sitar makers used a similar "vise" while carving the neck blocks (when
fitting them to the gourd body). They would hold the block between their
bare feet and carve the smallish blocks with adzes/hatches -- kind of an
anthropomoprhic pattern maker's vise. ;-)

Take care and enjoy the trip down the slippery slope,

Ron Banks
Ft Worth, TX

P.S. I don't remember seeing any missing toes in the picture of the sitar
maker.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Omi Chandiramani" 
To: "oldtools" 
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 2:42 PM
Subject: [oldtools] Bio

> Hello GG's,
>
> My name is Omi Chandiramani, and I live in Santa Cruz, California, USA,
> deep in old tool hell.
>
> I grew up in Bangalore, India, which is where I first got interested in
> woodworking. It happened one summer when my dad hired a carpenter to build
> a couple of desks for me and my brother and sister. I was about 12. This
> fellow would show up at our house with his *small* bag of tools every
> morning. He had 2 planes (both woodies, probably something he made), a bow
> drill with a few bits, 2 chisels, a mallet, a tape, a saw, and not much
> else. He would sit on the floor of our balcony and work on the desks, at
> times using his entire body to hold and work on the piece at hand. I
> clearly remeber him once holding a piece with his toes as he worked on a
> detail with his hands. He didn't like to talk much, so I would just watch
> him for hours. The desks were done in about 10 days, and they are still in
> use. After that, I started a small tool bag of my own..
>
> Fast forward to many years laters, zooming past college (when I moved to
> the US, and was too poor to buy anything), past the first few years of
> working (not poor, but didn't think I could do much in my studio, silly
> me), past marriage and 3 kids, to the first time I was living in a house
> again which had space for woodworking. I was poor again (see the part
> about marriage and kids), but if I couldn't start then, I never would. So
> I made a list of tools I wanted for my birthday and gave it to my family.
> I found the plans for Bobs "Good, Fast, and Cheap Bench" and went to the
> lumber yard. I built most of it in the next few weekends, but had to wait
> till the next fathers day to get the vice that I wanted. Flattening the
> top was the first time I had used a plane for more than a couple of
> minutes, and it was a sheer joy. Even the GITs loved the shavings. Of
> course, then I needed more tools to actually use the bench, and you all
> know how that goes. Thanks SGFH!!
>
> Eventually my FIL found out about my love for hand tools.. and it turns
> out that *his* father was a primo-galoot. So now every birthday, I get a
> little galootish present from him.. a brace last year, a block plane this
> year. I keep wondering if there is a big chest of goodies somewhere that
> he is slowly giving me.. but I dont want to push it.  Remember the goose
> which lay golden eggs story? These tools are the pride and joy of my shop.
>
> Now I have a small cozy shop (about 12'x14') with a fair amount of tools..
> and not enough completed projects to justify them, but please don't tell
> You Know Who. I often feel a bit ashamed when I think of that carpenter in
> Bangalore who did so much with just a few tools in his bag.. and not even
> a bench. And then I do something silly like swearing not to buy another
> tool until another project is completed. You all know how well that goes.
> Thanks SGFH!
>
> When I grow up and become a real galoot (the kind whose projects don't
> *all* look like a "first project"), I hope to build a lathe of some kind.
> I did a lot of ceramics for a few years, and doing something similar with
> wood really interests me. I've been thinking of a regular treadle lathe,
> but last week I saw a pole lathe on Roys show that looked pretty
> interesting too.
>
> Despite the tools and a few projects I still feel more like one of my
> GITs, than a galoot when I'm in my shop. I have so much to learn. Most of
> what I've learnt comes from this list, Tage Frid, Roy Underhill, the
> Handplane Book (thanks Mr. Hack), and Mr. Dunbar, in that order.
>
> As I have no one to learn from in person, finding this list was truly one
> of the best things to happen to my woodworking hobby. Meeting the Bay Area
> Galoots last September was fantastic, and its too long till we meet again
> next year.
>
> Thanks again to all present and past galoots who have made the list and
> its archives what it is.
>
> Omi
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Archive: http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/
> To unsubscribe or change options, use the web interface:
>     http://galoots.law.cornell.edu:81/read/?forum=oldtools