Wolfgang wrote:

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...

Touche. :-) There's an ongoing disucssion on a woodworking group I
sometimes follow that usually devolves into something along the lines of,
"well if you're not flint-knapping your own tools ...".

I still make my own glass knives for microtomy.......um, but the process is
a bit more technologically sophisticated than "knapping".

I'd be interested in hearing more about how you do this. The
closest I've ever come to that would be using a piece of broken glass as
a wood scraper. :-)

But I do think there's a real dichotomy there.

Only if you ignore the bulk of the spectrum in concentrating on the infrared
and ultraviolet cranks at either end.

Well, we are on ROFF, aren't we? :-)

For example, if I'm not mistaken, Steve doesn't tie his own flies,
preferring to buy them rather than take the time to tie them up himself.
I love tying flies, and when I do buy them it's usually to get a "working
model" to copy. I have yet to build a rod, but (like Claspy, that crazy
bugger) when/if I do, I'll probably go the whole nine yards and try to
build a bamboo rod.

If either of you does decide to build a grass rod, I'd expect, given your
predilections, that you would start by making your own planing forms.

Exactly. I've been doing some reading on that very thing, and since
my metalworking skills are nil, I'd probably have to come up with a
hardwood version.

But I've even been known to clamp a board to my bench and take a
handplane to it for no other reason than to see the little wispy shavings
come out of the plane. :-)

I used to do a lot of that......just to dull the plane irons.....so I could
sharpen them again.

Ack. Not me. I sharpen my tools on a setup that consists of
multiple granite surface plates with wet/dry sandpaper of various grits
affixed to them (also known as the "Scary Sharp" method of sharpening).
Until I dedicated an area of my shop to that, I would go as long as I
could between touchups (and I often paid the price for it). Now that I
don't have to drag out my sharpening supplies, I tend to hone my plane
irons on a regular basis, but I still don't like it.

It interferes with the whole zen thing of making wispy shavings.
(Speaking of zen, ask Claspy about his one-sided shavings.)

I'm currently interested in making and flying kites, making cheese, and
making paper. Would you believe it, in a city the size of Milwaukee I
cannot find a decent retailer for materials for any of those activities!


You have got to be kidding me. I don't know about kites and
papermaking, but *cheese*?! In Wisconsin?!!


Chuck Vance (the mind boggles)