My name is Jonathan White and I live on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.
I have been into woodworking to some degree or another for more than ten years but in the past four or five years it has become my primary hobby.
In late 2011, I read “The Anarchist’s Toolchest” by Christopher Schwarz and discovered that hand tools greatly appeal to me (and ironically, that a floor chest doesn’t). Since then, I have slowly and steadily been acquiring old tools at garage sales, on eBay, and at flea markets. Many of these tools had suffered from the passing of time and were in need of reconditioning to be put back to good use. I did however try to avoid buying tools that had suffered from neglect or were broken or missing parts.
I am not a hand tool purist. Dimensioning rough lumber by hand, doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me. I have a large table saw, a jointer, and a planer and I don’t plan on giving them up any time soon. What I do want to explore is using hand tools for joinery and building projects.
Ever since I started acquiring vintage tools, I have been restoring or reconditioning them. I’m sure that some collectors would be aghast at my methods, but my goals are to put the tools back into use, not put them on a shelf. I hope to post several entries showing my methods for restoring the tools.
Then I would like to get on to some actual woodworking projects.
1st major project…. A roubo(ish) bench.
