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.
> 
> 
>
______________________________________________________________________
> 
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> 
> Archive:
> http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/
> To unsubscribe or change options, use the web
> interface:
>    
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