OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

23494 <Mlshaker@A...> 1997‑08‑06 Bio: Jim Galvin
Well been lurking around for a while...figured its time to come clean....and
see the daylight
I have a degree in civil engineering, spent the past 16 years working on the
railroad (please no songs).... rebuilding tracks and bridges (my area of
expertise).....moved around alot.....spent most of my time in New England
(not far from where the MofA roams) ....and out in Pennsylvania..(yes towns
like the one in Deer Hunter really do exist)....been in Central NJ for the
past 8 years......don't really know what got me started with hand
tools.....my dad says I must take after his father (he was a patternmaker in
the Brooklyn Navy Yard)....he died way before I was born.....I build mostly
Shaker/Early American furniture....the Shaker stuff is dear to my heart....I
love their chairs.....recently developed an interest in the Stickley stuff
.....yes I owe a few of the unmentionables of the tailed species.....attended
a planemaking class by Mario Rodriguez last year now I'm hooked (highly
recommended)...float anyone??.....been looking for some quartersawn 12/4
beech for a plow plane project......lately there has been no time for making
shavings....my future SWMBO purchased an 1875 Second Empire Victorian fixer
upper.....needless to say plaster dust does have some effect on ones thought
process.....My future SWMBO is supportive of my need for old tools....she got
me a nice No. 112 for my birthday.....took her to Crane's....she had a
ball....she brought some old stuff... garden tools & eel spears.....eel
spears--->nasty looking things.....have to do an eel spear check before I go
to bed.....boy if Loreena Bobbit had one of these things....visions of a
weinnie roast comes to mind....most of my metal hand planes are
Bedrocks....have mostly a full set of hollows and rounds I got from a
retiring patternmaker....some wooden molding & bead planes......a 45 &
55....got an Emmert turtleback vise this year.....its some piece of
engineering......picked up a set of twelve Buck Bros socket firmer chisels
(primo shape) at Crane's...looking for a full set of Buck Bros tanged firmers
& gouges now......developed this thing for chisels and dividers .......they
seem to follow me home.....waiting for my IT....Pete says its coming soon
after his vac.....can't wait....have  other interests....been playing ice
hockey since I was a child  (but a second serious knee injury has put a
damper on that for a while).....interested in the development of  bridge
design and building.....classical architecture.....Asher Benjamin & Samuel
MacIntire my kind of guys....One of these days I'm gonna make it to North
Bennet Street for their furnituremaking program....

And those who ordered a spokeshave from John G. can blame me for the delay
because he'll be busy making french fittings for the set of chisels I sold
him....

Jim Galvin

---Of all the things I miss....I miss my mind the most----



Recent Bios FAQ