Updated 12/2003 from the 9/1997 orginal...
Grew up near (no kidding) Screw Auger Falls (nice swimming spot).
Learned to drill holes with a brace & bit and cut things off with a handsaw
before ever using the power methods, and continued to prefer those for
certain situations. But actually getting a plane to work correctly wasn't
achieved until much later - cheap dull planes just lead to tool abuse and
downgrading of thoughts theron. Tried to make a shaving horse when I was 12
or so - an atrocious mess (Foxfire is not the best source of information
for actually building things). One of these days I should rescue that nice
piece of pumpkin pine from my brother's barn and see if I can't correct the
errors of youth...
Became interested in and self-taught at (tailed, so far) turning, still my main
interest. Set a limit of 5 lathes, which I've hit. My rented chunk of
old mill in NW Massachusetts got yuppified and the rent went up, so I
left it; we bought land in SW Vermont, and the shop has been getting
built this year - on December 1st with the 4th bad windstorm of the
fall blowing, I still need a roof - got de-tarped yet again this
weekend. I dabble in building tools, and have a number of funiture
projects as well, but most things are on hold until the shop is
closed in. Have gotten a lot of use out of the only cordless drill
that holds up as long as I do (a brace) while building the shop and
the sheds that preceded it. Developing a large pile of hardwood from
the trees we've had to cut to get things built - much of it spalted
from sitting for a year or 4 before it got sawed into lumber.
Have a number, but by no means the bulk, of tools from various elderly
relatives; OTOH, a couple of years ago, in blithe ignorance of
cheaper/older/better options, I paid $75 for a brand-spanking-new
Record-Marples 05 with Chrome-Vanadium blade. Oops. Despite negative press,
the thing does work, but I now know I spent way to much on it, and probably
would have had a better tool for less money - live & learn.
I'm still strictly a user, and still quite likely to stay that way.
--
-Lawrence H Smith, Librarian/Computarian for Buxton School and Woodworker
-lsmith@s... Cats, Coffee, Chocolate... Vices to live by.
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