OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

73683 Bill Meahan <wmeahan@w...> 2000‑01‑19 A bio, a gloat and a question [long]
Well, I guess I've lurked long enough and it's time to step out of the
shadows  and approach the Porch.


After 35+ years of building the ephemeral  with bits and bytes, and
trying to find salvation on the airwaves, I've come to realize that
I've lost something along the way: the sense of joy that comes from
actually transforming  raw materials into useful objects with my own
hands and the pride that comes from actually seeing these objects used
and enjoyed.  Casting about for a cure to this angst, I remembered the
great pleasure of the paltry few times I had become one with nature
through intimacy with Wood and decided, therefore, to pursue the path
of the humble craftsman who shapes and joins pieces of Wood into
objects of art and function.

But I strayed, brethren. Based upon too much viewing of the
television programs of the evil Nahm (dare I say his name) I enrolled
in a course at the local community college and proceeded to refresh my
memory of "modern" shop classes so long ago.Memories of how to use those
eaters of flesh, those splitters of eardrums, p*wer t**ls (oh, the
shame).

Brethren, I wallowed in my iniquity until (Oh happy day!) the local PBS
station moved the time of its showing of the evil Nahm to a different
time without my knowledge and moved the Blessed Roy's broadcast into
its slot. What is this? A man who cuts hidden dovetails with nought but
a slim saw and a chisel! A man who shapes seats for a Windsor chair
with nought but a broadaxe! What magic! Could I learn such mighty
secrets myself? Wandering about the Internet (which I have been
wandering since around 1981), I chanced upon purveyors of those magical
things, Old Tools and before I knew it, I had purchased things from the
House of the great Stanley and others. Not the mere imitations of
things as pour forth from the House now, but real things, blessed things
embued with age and patina and (oh how I shiver to say it) quality!! A
brace, a #5, a #7, a #9 1/2 hidden under a Craftsman label began my
path to Enlightenment soon followed by a #4, a #78 and a couple of saws
all in the process of being sharpened, tuned and applied to scrap wood
for learning as time allows and the days progress. With these and the
treasure chest I will detail below, I hope to follow in the footsteps
of the Masters.

I stand before you, brethren, then, as one who has heeded the altar
call of the thin shaving instead of the cloud of dust. One but a mere
Apprentice in the Ways. May your guidance be gentle to this aspiring
novice.



Through a series of circumstances involving a tenant of the upstairs
flat belonging to my late Aunt, my late Father and a visit to my
Mother's garage, I stumbled upon a literal Treasure Chest: a wooden
toolbox of age exceeding my own containing a number of tools used by a
journeyman of old. Although lacking major tools such as bench planes
and saws, it did contain a nice selection of bits for a brace, a couple
of chisels by Ohio Tool (both mortice and bevel-edge varieties), a
Morrill 1B saw set, some un marked marking gages, a pair of
unidentified brass trammel points, a set of well-used sharpening
stones, a couple of old molding planes and other bits and pieces yet to
be understood or identified. Didn't cost me a cent. Just had to listen
to several hours of my Mother's repetitive stories. Lots of useless
rust to remove without removing the valuable patina ahead.



One of the objects in the treasure chest is a draw knife. Around 10-12
inces between the handles and of unremarkable construction. Etched into
the blade is a logo "REY-O-NOC" (could be REV-O-NOC since the Y/V is of
a serif style that is hard to distinguish) in fairly large, outline
letters, and *SB & Co in small letters extending from the head of the
'R' character. ('*' is some letter I cannot distinguish)  Using this
draw knife as an example, could you Enlightened Ones illustrate how
this novice (and other novices lurking in the shadows) might identify
this item more fully?


Apologies for the length of this first note!
 --
Bill Meahan WA8TZG    wmeahan@w...
Cro-magnon woodworker. Unix Bigot. Perl fan. Oracle weenie.
Managing software development is like herding cats.



Recent Bios FAQ