Hey from Central Texas

Jerry Palmer

Member
Messages
317
Location
Cedar Park, TX
Guess ya'll allow Texans round here as I was able to register.

Just got wind of this forum and have been looking around a bit and recognize some names from other places. I've been pretending to work wood for about 30 years or so, but have only been able to really make any advances in the last decade now that the kids aren't draining all of the cash out of the family coffers and there is a bit left to spend on tools and wood.

I'm a sort of reforming machine head, having discovered vintage and good modern hand tools in the last few years. Though I don't think I'll be giving up my electron burners any time soon, I find myself resorting to hand tools for more and more of what I do in the shop.

I've got a website where I post stuff I've done, as well as some of the stuff I've learned over the years. Don't sell anything there and shouldn't be any pop-ups or such so feel free to visit and take away anything you find useful. Even got some SketchUp plans for a few pieces of furniture that you can take and use if you like.

The site is http://www.sawdustersplace.com Guess I could probably add that to my signature line, when I get around to doing a signature line and the code stuff, I guess, needs to be activated so till then you'll just have to copy and paste if you wanna visit the site.:wave:

Jerry
 
Welcome to the forum.

I checked out your web site. It has a lot of interesting stuff. Some pics did not load but I guess I will have to try again later. The Rocker was magnificant.
 
Aw man, how'd this guy get in here? The Texan filter in the forum software must be broken. :doh::rofl:

Welcome to the clubhouse, Jerry. Glad to gave you aboard. :wave:
 
Hi Jerry, wellcome on board, have a great time with this bunch of very nice people.
 
Hi Jerry
Yes we allow Texas on the forum, as it is western part of Indiana

PS
The coffee pot is on
 
Welcome to the forum.

I checked out your web site. It has a lot of interesting stuff. Some pics did not load but I guess I will have to try again later. The Rocker was magnificant.

When I migrated my site from elsewhere I left some of the pics on xs.to and linked to them. Don't know what is going on at xs.to, but it dumped a bunch of my pics. I need to dig around and see if I've still got them somewhere and put em back on the site. Thanks for the compliment on the rocker. That was my first one and when I get caught up on a couple other projects I've got the wood for two more.
 
Well, folks, I suppose I should add a few words, more or less at random, to welcome Jerry and give you a hint about who just signed up.

As you know, I'm always saying I know absolutely nothing. But a few years ago, I knew far, far less than I do now. If there's a single person most responsible for the progress I've made, it's Jerry. He's always been very patient with my foolishness. He has gently told me what I needed to hear, even when I didn't want to listen. He's one of the most pragmatic woodworkers you'll ever want to meet. And he's always willing to share the expertize he's gained.

So now I'm going to tell you a story that even he hasn't heard. You may have noticed that all through January I had a candle as my icon. That was my small way of honoring a gentleman we both knew named Limey, who had recently passed away. A couple years ago, I visited Limey in Connecticut, and he offered to teach me how to tune up and use a plane (I know that task sounds simple, but I need lessons in everything!). Anyway, before we started, we had to go look for a plane to tune up. So, young James, Limey, and I all piled into the car, and off we went to a second hand store that had a bunch of used tools. We found a couple planes, including a woody that I was later able to establish as dating from 1847. While James ran wild, Limey perused the handsaws, and pulled one out of the pile, saying to me "I think I'll get this one, just to make Sawduster jealous..." ;)

Oh, and there's one other thing it may be useful to know about Jerry. No two rational beings could be farther apart on the political spectrum than he and I are, and yet if we ever meet I have a long-standing promise to buy him a scotch (single-malt, of course!). He may not have my agreement on such subjects, but he has my respect, and I hope he'll share his woodworking wisdom here as freely as he always has elsewhere. Someday, I hope to help some bone-headed young whippersnapper as much as he's helped me!

Oh, and Jerry, the thing I love the most about this place: it's a no politics site. No flames, none of that stuff... just lots of peace, happiness and woodworking!

I'm glad you found us!

Thanks,

Bill
 
Hey, Jerry, a Hearty WELCOME from West Texas. We ALWAYS can use a few more Texans to keep the Southwestern end of the Forum Plane balanced so it doesn't start tilting and make our shops go slipping North across the Plane where they have all that COLD MESSY Weather with all that SNOW that has to be shoveled just to get to the shop.:D
 
Oh, and Jerry, the thing I love the most about this place: it's a no politics site. No flames, none of that stuff... just lots of peace, happiness and woodworking!

I think I like that a lot. Would that the rest of the world could live by those rules. And if I ever get up inside the Beltway, I will surely take you up on that Scotch, although the LOML brought back a sampler pack of the Bourbon equivalent of single malt Scotch when she was off reading AP English essays for the College Board in Louisville KY and I gotta say I've taken a liking to that stuff. :)

Bill gives me way too much credit. There are/were lots of folks over there with lots of knowledge and I don't believe I likely helped Bill out any more than anyone else over there.

Gotta say I was thrilled to see Bill's name in an older post here the other day when I was perusing around, and I jumped at the opportunity to say "Howdy" (that's Texas A&M for "hello") to him on a more recent thread he posted. :thumb:

Ah, Norman, it's good to talk to someone who knows where West Texas really is. Folks 'round here talk about anything west of Fort Worth being West Texas. Before I moved here in 1998 I lived in El Paso for better than 20 years.
 
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Ah, Norman, it's good to talk to someone who knows where West Texas really is. Folks 'round here talk about anything west of Fort Worth being West Texas. Before I moved here in 1998 I lived in El Paso for better than 20 years.

Aha, I guess you were living there when I worked out of El Paso for 5 1/2 years in the early '80s. Since the LOML had a good job teaching at the college here, (and still does), I didn't move out there, but kept a room most of the time at the old Coral Motel out close to the airport and Aviation Consultant's offices, (for when I wasn't off flying or consulting around other parts of the world).:D
 
Jerry, I just spotted Cedar Park TX on the map, and see you're not far from where my dad was born (Granger) and raised (Bartlett). Also had a great-uncle who ran the Stephen F. Austin Hotel in Austin way back in the 60's. I haven't been to that part of the country since I was a kid, but have some fond memories from there.

I've also spent some time in FAR west Texas...Clovis, Portales, Tucumcari, and Logan, NM. :rofl: (Then there were the two weeks in Midland/Odessa back in my rock band days...but that's another story for another time.) :rolleyes:
 
Jerry, I just spotted Cedar Park TX on the map, and see you're not far from where my dad was born (Granger) and raised (Bartlett). Also had a great-uncle who ran the Stephen F. Austin Hotel in Austin way back in the 60's. I haven't been to that part of the country since I was a kid, but have some fond memories from there.

I've also spent some time in FAR west Texas...Clovis, Portales, Tucumcari, and Logan, NM. :rofl: (Then there were the two weeks in Midland/Odessa back in my rock band days...but that's another story for another time.) :rolleyes:

Hey Vaughn, you didn't happen to play "The Shadows" club in Odessa, did you? It was the most popular Rock club, and then the much larger "Stardust" was just about a quarter of a mile down the road on the other side of the Hwy, for Country Western music. They both had different bands in and out as well as some local groups. Pepper Martin and his band was one of the most popular local groups that played "The Shadows" for several years.
 
Jerry, I just spotted Cedar Park TX on the map, and see you're not far from where my dad was born (Granger) and raised (Bartlett). Also had a great-uncle who ran the Stephen F. Austin Hotel in Austin way back in the 60's. I haven't been to that part of the country since I was a kid, but have some fond memories from there.

I've also spent some time in FAR west Texas...Clovis, Portales, Tucumcari, and Logan, NM. :rofl: (Then there were the two weeks in Midland/Odessa back in my rock band days...but that's another story for another time.) :rolleyes:

:rofl::rofl: Funny you should mention those far West Texas places as folks around here sometimes insist that El Paso is actually in Central New Mexico or far northern Chihuahua.

To paraphrase John Denver singing about Toledo Ohio, I spent a week in Midland/Odessa one day. :thumb: I've got a sister who lives in Odessa. She likes it there. As to the Coral Motel, I'm vaguely remembering that being on Montana. Don't know if it has been relabled or knocked down and replaced by something else. I was a cop in El Paso for twenty years, working the NE area of town during the early 1980s.
 
:rofl::rofl: Funny you should mention those far West Texas places as folks around here sometimes insist that El Paso is actually in Central New Mexico or far northern Chihuahua.

To paraphrase John Denver singing about Toledo Ohio, I spent a week in Midland/Odessa one day. :thumb: I've got a sister who lives in Odessa. She likes it there. As to the Coral Motel, I'm vaguely remembering that being on Montana. Don't know if it has been relabled or knocked down and replaced by something else. I was a cop in El Paso for twenty years, working the NE area of town during the early 1980s.

Yep, it was on the south side of Montana, probably gone now. It wasn't anything fancy but the rooms were large and kept in good condition and really clean. I loved the fact that you could call out at any time, but the switchboard closed at 10:00 PM to incoming calls, and the boss couldn't pester me at all hours, (he was always mad because I wouldn't get an apartment).:D

I could have used your expertise one night while I was at "The Track", (a little sports bar), in the industrial area between Montana and I-10 and across the street from the north/south RR tracks. Several of my pilot and aviation friends and I used to hang out there for the sports TV and Great food & drinks, but the thieves started breaking into the vehicles parked outside, and mine got it one night. They cleaned EVERYTHING inside the van out, (including two bags of trash)..:rofl: I hated losing the tools & stuff, but I did laugh when I told my friends that my work van had not been that clean in years.:D We were pretty sure they had a shill (lookout) inside the bar with a cell phone, but we never could figure out who it was since the crowd was always regulars, and someone was always getting or making calls on their cells.

Give a shout, if you're ever out this way to visit you sister.
 
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Hey Vaughn, you didn't happen to play "The Shadows" club in Odessa, did you? It was the most popular Rock club, and then the much larger "Stardust" was just about a quarter of a mile down the road on the other side of the Hwy, for Country Western music. They both had different bands in and out as well as some local groups. Pepper Martin and his band was one of the most popular local groups that played "The Shadows" for several years.
I don't remember the name of the places we played there. (A lot of years and a lot of beers later.) ;) Seems one of them was a big converted grocery store. I just remember our agent routed us from there to Flagstaff. :doh: We had to pack up Saturday night in Texas, drive 750 miles and set up Monday afternoon in Arizona, then played Monday night.
 
snip
I could have used your expertise one night while I was at "The Track", (a little sports bar), in the industrial area between Montana and I-10 and across the street from the north/south RR tracks. snip

That wouldn't have been the "Track 1" would it? Bar in a couple railroad cars?

One of my wife's cousins (2nd or 3rd or something) owned that place.
 
That wouldn't have been the "Track 1" would it? Bar in a couple railroad cars?

One of my wife's cousins (2nd or 3rd or something) owned that place.

Yep, that would be the place, and it's been so long that my "Sr. Memory" absolutely refuses to recall the Boy's name that had recently bought it and owned it at that time, (and I should remember), since we threw him and his Girlfriend a big party there when they got married, (I even gave them a gift).:D He was quite an artist, especially airplane pictures, and had his paintings hung all around the walls. IIRC he had one painting on loan to the USAF that was displayed at the Smithsonian or one of the national galleries in DC. Was that the fellow, (or his wife) that was your wife's cousin, or was it the previous owner, (I didn't know that fellow as he sold just before I "Discovered" the Track 1). They sure had good food there.:thumb:
 
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