Joined
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131 Posts
Just a quick introduction.
I live in the Triangle are of North Carolina, but I'm originally from Indiana (Indianapolis). I was active for about a decade on the all-hand-tool woodworking forum known as the Porch. We were originally called Galoots as a derogatory term, by what we in turn called Normites (all power-tool users).Those religious wars have fortunately calmed down a bit in recent years, yet I still wear the Galoot label proudly.
Because of an increasingly busy life, for the last few years I've been unable to take advantage of my indoor hand-tool shop much at all, but I was able to make a nice cane for my father, who's getting on in years, and then for myself, under the assumption that by the time I need it I probably won't be in much shape to use it.
I then made a couple of very simple walking staffs for myself and my son (who's eight). That pretty much started the spark of incipient rabophilia. (love new words and just discovered that a rabologist is one interested in walking sticks http://www.britishpathe.com/video/antique-walking-sticks)
For my supply of materials, I have a small wooded area behind my house. There are also a lot of wooded lots being cleared in the area for new building, so the potential is definitely there for material. I'm also starting an experiment to see if I can use the weed-like pine trees around here. One of the first trees to come back to a cleared field left fallow is the long-leaf or loblolly pine. They grow in great, thickets of incredible density. That means that they grow straight, with few branches lower down, and the wood eventually becomes southern yellow pine in lumber stores. It has a great amount of sap, but the wood is strong, flexible and light-weight when dry. We'll see.
My time is very limited, unfortunately, but this looked like a good forum to join, and I expect to learn a lot and contribute at least a little.
Thanks for having me.
Andrew
I live in the Triangle are of North Carolina, but I'm originally from Indiana (Indianapolis). I was active for about a decade on the all-hand-tool woodworking forum known as the Porch. We were originally called Galoots as a derogatory term, by what we in turn called Normites (all power-tool users).Those religious wars have fortunately calmed down a bit in recent years, yet I still wear the Galoot label proudly.
Because of an increasingly busy life, for the last few years I've been unable to take advantage of my indoor hand-tool shop much at all, but I was able to make a nice cane for my father, who's getting on in years, and then for myself, under the assumption that by the time I need it I probably won't be in much shape to use it.
I then made a couple of very simple walking staffs for myself and my son (who's eight). That pretty much started the spark of incipient rabophilia. (love new words and just discovered that a rabologist is one interested in walking sticks http://www.britishpathe.com/video/antique-walking-sticks)
For my supply of materials, I have a small wooded area behind my house. There are also a lot of wooded lots being cleared in the area for new building, so the potential is definitely there for material. I'm also starting an experiment to see if I can use the weed-like pine trees around here. One of the first trees to come back to a cleared field left fallow is the long-leaf or loblolly pine. They grow in great, thickets of incredible density. That means that they grow straight, with few branches lower down, and the wood eventually becomes southern yellow pine in lumber stores. It has a great amount of sap, but the wood is strong, flexible and light-weight when dry. We'll see.
My time is very limited, unfortunately, but this looked like a good forum to join, and I expect to learn a lot and contribute at least a little.
Thanks for having me.
Andrew
