Russ Allen
Illinois, USA
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Russ collects and uses pattern makers tools. He got hooked on patent
searching after finding a router with a patent date on it. It turned out that the patent was
for the thumbscrew which is why it took so long to find. Russ likes to
find patents listed in tool auctions etc. and then add them to the DATAMP database.
This makes him steward of nothing in particular.
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Ralph Brendler
Illinois, USA
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Ralph is a long-time collector of antique woodworking tools, and a
well-known authority on marking gages in particular. He has been
researching manufactured and patented marking gages for several years.
In addition to marking gages, Ralph has a substantial set of "user"
woodworking tools that he builds furniture with, as well as a nice
selection of miniature machinist tools (mostly antique) he uses for
clockmaking, and more slide rules than any sane person would admit to.
Ralph works as a software engineer in the Chicago area, and is also "list
mom" for the OldTools mailing list, a director for MWTCA area E, season
ticket holder for Lyric Opera of Chicago, and an unabashed Chicago Cubs fan.
How's that for varied interests?
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Jeff Joslin
Ontario, Canada
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Jeff has been a member of the oldtools list since 1996, but in early 2001
he finally saw the light and switched his focus to machinery and the
oldwwmachines list.
Jeff is the Official Historian of the
Old Woodworking
Machines web site, which is
how he got interested in patents.
Jeff is responsible for machinery-related patents, with a special
interest in the early history of jointers, planers, tablesaws, and
bandsaws. Makers of special interest include J. A. Fay & Co.,
M. B. Tidey, Hazard Knowles, Thomas Blanchard, William Woodworth, and
Thomas Daniels.
He has a complete shop of hand tools and machinery, which are lying
unused since he developed an obsession with patents. During the day,
Jeff is a network architect and development manager for a very large
German company.
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Carl Matthews
Houston, Texas |
As a woodworker and tool collector, Carl found that he enjoy studying and collecting vises. Not the kind found in Las Vegas but the kind
which are the mule of the workshop. As a child in his grandfather's shop, he watched him make and repair many projects. Carl would sit at
one end of the bench and tinker with the vise as his Grandfather worked.
Several years ago Carl wanted to paint his Emmert the original color and found that he had slid down a slippery slope. Now he has a website dedicated to the Emmert vise. The Iron Hand website can be viewed at http://www.mprime.com/emmert.htm.
Carl is an Architect by education and currently works in the Information Technology field in Houston, TX. He is also a father of three and a muscle car enthusiast. He has restored a 1969 Firebird which he enjoys working on and driving.
He is our steward for vises and clamps.
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Brian Pennington |
Brian Pennington joined the OldTools List early in 1998 and with Jeff
Joslin's prompting
began down the slipperly slope headed full tilt into the project that would
become DATAMP.
His focus for DATAMP is currently Handsaws and Metallurgical Processes and
he is the
token non-IT (read computer geek) member of the original DATAMP team.
He is a current member of EAIA and MWTCA. His collecting interests
primarily center around
folding boxwood/ivory rules and secondarily around handsaws which were much
more plentiful
than rules when he lived in the Midwest. He works for a large government
organization and is
currently assigned overseas with almost all of his tools/collection in
storage. His non-tool related
activites include travel, history, playing softball, and SCUBA diving.
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Steve Reynolds |
Steve works as a Patent Agent in Wilmington, Delaware handling the electrical
and mechanical (that is to say, not chemical) arts. Yet he is less
knowledgeable about IT matters than either Gary or Brian. He is steward for
handplane patents. He is a member of the Delaware Woodworkers Guild and a
lapsed member of MWTCA.
Steve is, unlike Ralph, a user, not a collector, of antique woodworking tools.
Like Ralph, he has a substantial set of "user" woodworking tools that he
tries to build furniture with and is also a "list mom" for the OldTools
mailing list. A special interest is sticking molding with wooden molding
planes, which he hopes to do with enough skill someday to make something ready
for the living room and not the garbage can. As a serial hobbyist, he has the
remainders of his astronomy, bicycling, clocks & watches, and scuba diving
junk laying about the house, but prefers to raid a fleamarket, watch a Notre
Dame football game, or browse around in the Winterthur Library when not
woodworking.
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Gary Roberts |
Gary Roberts has been a member of the Galootish community known as The Oldtools
List for, well, a long time since shortly after 30 Odd Galoots departed the
environs of Rec.Woodworking to pursue the pure and virginal world of traditional
tools, no tailed daemons invited thank you very much.
His interests include music-listening (classical, Be-Bop), Asian Cinema
(actually Amy is the expert, he just tags along for the enjoyable ride), Maine
Coon Cats, Olde Books and Ephemera of the technology kind, Science Fiction &
Fantasy, gardens (preferably the low maintenance type), and of course Olde Tools
with a bent towards woodies and strange patented things.
His present career is as a Research Librarian. In past lives, he has
been a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Carpenter, Factory
Maintenance Supervisor, Crisis Counselor and has held sundry other
monetarily reimbursing positions.
Unlike most of the other DATAMP participants, Gary is a non-programmer type.
He uses a PC at work purely out of penance for past wrongs and has been on a
Macintosh Platform at home since the enception of the Mac SE. He has moved
to a G4 with OS X and has seen the error of his past ways.
He is presently Stewarding Try Squares, Bevels, Trammels, Rules and Mitre Boxes.
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Stan Schulz |
Stan has a "second hand" interest in old tools. Stan's father, Alfred W. Schulz, had extensive collections of blacksmith, wheelwright and woodworking tools before turning his focus to wrenches. Alfred was one of the founders of the Missouri Valley Wrench Club, and edited the club's newsletter for the club's first decade. Alfred and his wife Lucille compiled the widely used guide, "Antique and Collectible Wrenches." He assembled a notable collection of early patented wrenches in the process of gathering materials for the book.
Stan learned so much wrench history from his dad, and while helping prepare the catalogs for his dad's dispersal sales that he decided to become active in the collector community. Stan took on editorship of the Missouri Valley Wrench Club Newsletter in 2000. He also has a modest web site for the club at http://www.mvwc.org/.
Stan's "day job" is Director of the Kilgore Memorial Library -- the public library in York, Nebraska. The librarian's skills of researching, organizing and cataloging information are suited for projects like DATAMP.
Stan tries to outwit cottontails long enough to enjoy fresh kohlrabi, swiss chard, and green beans in season.
Stan stewards wrenches and related tools.
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Chuck Zitur |
I am a tool collector with a leaning towards drilling devices and
screwdrivers.
I have been actively collecting antique tools since 1990. I enjoy the hunt
for tools but also relish the research that follows. I am currently working
on a website at http://www.toolchuck.com which focuses on boring tools of
all sorts. It may never be done. I am a member of EAIA and M-WTCA. I really
have no marketable computer skills living a mostly WYSIWYG existence on the
web. I am the customer service manager for a janitorial supply company in
Billings, Montana. As well as old tools I also like doodling with computer
graphic programs and playing my old flat top Lyle guitar.
Update:
In sad news, Chuck has lost his battle with cancer. The details
are here.
His web site can now be found at
http://www.oldtoolsshop.com/z_pdf/zChuck/index.html.
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