Galoots,

Permit me to introduce myself to this esteemed company.
I've been a subscriber for a short while and although I don't understand
half the acronyms (what's a SWMBO ?)
I think I'm getting the hang of it.

I am Mark Becker, sometimes called Beck.
I'm 40+ with two engineering degrees from a small eastern tech school in
Eastern Mass - the class ring 
has a beaver on it.
I like to build things, be they abstractions from software or real goods
from wood.

In this group I think I can best be described as a lover of good tools and
a wannabe furniture maker.
I'm looking for knowledge, answers, and sources of supply.

With all of this I plan on building some cherry kitchen cabinets and later
move on to bureaus, book shelves,
and whatever. I'm currently working on a "horizontal" (don't know the
correct term) file cabinet - 1 file
drawer and three 6" deep useful ones.

Love the concept of scary sharp - and finally managed to inflict that
condition on some chisels my Dad gave me
some years ago - finally shaved hairs off my arm after using the 1000/6000
waterstones and very fine
emery cloth. Hope I didn't cheat by using a Veritas holder and gauge. 

I love to work with wood, love its feel and glow.

Someday I may even learn to saw a straight line - can I put that on my Self
Appraisal Form as
a goal? (We're going through the annual review cycle at work).

I want to find some user planes - wood or metal, for use in making
cabinets, and suggestions/offers would be
welcome.  

Somewhere on the 3 GB of disk space on this PC I've got the wonderful
Stanley plane FAQ, and I'm
starting to check out the local library's collection of books.  Come Spring
(soon, please) I'll start checking out
local flea markets.

I live in Trumbull CT, 60 miles or so NW of Times Square, and 5 miles or so
from Long Island Sound
Other hobbies include riding my recumbent cycle, gardening, and Linux. 
Children are grown - eldest is married and lives in Seattle, youngest is
finishing up Brown and moving to
San Francisco real soon. 

To pay for my hobbies, I'm a programmer - Unix, C, & network stuff at a
financial institution a few miles from home.

Now if I can only sell the 8" Ryobi Radial Arm Saw, and possibly the very
old Delta 6" Joiner I bought
from a friend in a fit of Normancy, I might be able to afford some of these
beauties.

Last but not least, my dear wife seems to be kin to Pete Taran's - has even
been known to lend me money
to buy toys!

I look forward to participating in this group and figuring out some more of
the acronyms - I got YMBAG!

Beck - beckerm@c...

BTW is there a FAQ for this group somewhere? I couldn't find it on the
homepage.

At 10:04 PM -0500 12/18/96, Beck posted a bio which included the queries:
	[huge snippage]
>I don't understand half the acronyms (what's a SWMBO ?)
	[and]
>BTW is there a FAQ for this group somewhere? I couldn't find it on the
>homepage.

	So I ask the listmoms:  Is there some reason why the URL for the Porch,
		http://www.pangea.com/~rock/oldtools/porch.html
and/or the FAQ
		http://www.mcs.net/~brendler/oldtools/OTFAQ.htm
could not be included in the endlessly repeated sig block for posts to the
list?
	Alternatively, a link at the Hypermail archive site,
		http://mailmunch.law.cornell.edu/mhonarc/OLDTOOLS
that would connect to the Porch and/or the FAQ would greatly facilitate the
orientation or newbies to the list.
		Just a thought.
			Tom Holloway
Just say (tm) surely we're not trying to make such orientation more of
challenge that it already is, etc.

At 10:04 PM -0500 12/18/96, Beck posted a bio which included the
queries:
        [huge snippage]
>I don't understand half the acronyms (what's a SWMBO ?)
        [and]
>BTW is there a FAQ for this group somewhere? I couldn't find it on the
>homepage.

What homepage are you look'n at? 

The one known as the "Front Porch", 

http://www.pangea.com/~rock/oldtools/porch.html

does have a link to Ralph's FAQ page. 

http://www.mcs.net/~brendler/oldtools/OTFAQ.htm

actually it has 2. 

To learn more about us, check out the
oltdools mailing list FAQ.   <=========== this is a link

Front Porch | Sharpening | Planes | Plane Making | Saws | Restoration |
Toolmakers | FAQ  <========= here's another !

Perhaps the FAQ button should be replaced with a link to the archives.

John Letsche
West Milford, NJ

Tom Holloway writes:

>	So I ask the listmoms:  Is there some reason why the URL for the Porch,
>and/or the FAQ could not be included in the endlessly repeated sig block for 
>posts to the list?

Personally, I don't like the idea.  The fact that the sig block 
is repeated so often makes it even more important to keep it 
as small as possible.

EVERY new subscriber to the list is sent a "welcome" message which
contains the list charter, as well as instructions on how to have
the listserver send you the latest FAQ, and other useful hints
on using and configuring your OldTools account.  If a new user
doesn't read the initial information packet, there's not much else
we can do to help.

I've noticed that since I updated the welcome message and made the
FAQ available from the listserver, that about 4 in 5 new subscribers
request the FAQ after signup.  I'm happy with that percentage-- I
kind of doubt if we could do much better (just given human nature).

If you haven't already seen it, both the OldTools FAQ and a copy 
of the welcome message are available from my homepage (see my sig).
The OldTools FAQ is also available via email from the listserver
 by sending the command

  information oldtools 

in the body of an email message.

ralph
============================================================
Ralph Brendler (ENB/FOYBIPO/OTLM)   Chicago, IL
http://www.mcs.net/~brendler/oldtools
"I prefer not to anthropomorphize tools, they hate that."