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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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