Greetings to all stewards, galoots, iron, brass and wood mavens wherever
you list...
My name is Rob Lootens. I'm 6' 2" have eyes of blue and I'm a Gemini
(with Scorpio rising) born June 18, 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. . In
person I'm quite ugly but I have the hands of an artist (I'm told). I'm
single, living with my girlfriend and my "stuff" in our rented 1850
Italianate house in Utica Michigan and have two grown sons aged 17 and
19. Since I am sure this is not a guess your gender chat group (or is it?
do any ladies or poseurs drop in?) I will quit with the personal
descriptions.
I have too many interests (which I'm working on) but the salient point
here is that I'm a handtool addict. I have lots of addictions beside
handtools (mostly Stanley) though none of them have tails (well, one does
but.....) I play acoustic guitar, collect old books, old stamps,
classical music on vinyl, a fairly serious student of metaphysics, a very
serious student of history (all local history wherever on terra I go),
watercolorist, former amateur luthier, collect objets d art of cast iron
and wood, heraldry, too many other things.........
My day job is as senior writer/editor for Volkswagen and Audi of America
in Auburn Hills Michigan. I write and edit Repair Manuals (anything
regarding engine management and fuel systems) part of the time, and I
manage the computer network for the department the rest of the time. Its
funny, I was far more productive before the computer arrived???
The point that I think might be of interest to some of you would be my
life experiences that connect me to the Stanley factory. My dad was a
warehouseman with the Buhl Sons & Company of Detroit, Michigan. He worked
there from 1938 to 1963. They were THE supplier of Stanley tools to the
Detroit Metro industrial base. As a child in the early Fifties, I was
able to explore/ curiositize/ touch/ observe more aisles of pure boxed
Stanley tools than you would ever dream of. I attended Stanley promotions
for the hardware trade and even got to take home the freebie handouts of
the day. So, what do I have left after all of that exposure? Sadfully, no
tools or anything from that era, it was all pitched by my mom the same
day she threw out my baseball cards and comic books etc... But what I do
have are fond and wonderful memories of hardware people, warehouse and
tool people and fantastic little adventures in the space of my own head.
I would love to share some of these with you, as well as trade stories
and historical information. At some point I'd like to write a book about
the "spiritual" side of tools and society... another time.
I hope this isn't too long for the nominal reader and look forward to
hearing from one and all.
Sincerely,
Rob Lootens (is it Galootens now?)
Utica, Michigan
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