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125030 Omi Chandiramani <galoot@c...> 2003‑12‑01 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



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