Hi Ray,

>         I've been lurking here too long without a BIO and I know 
>      I'm gonna stay so here it is. 
>         I live in Fredericksburg VA (transplanted from Jersey).  

Funny thing, I used to live in VA and transferred to Jersey.


>      hobby.  As a matter of fact, the first project after one for 
>      SWMBO will be to start work on a darkroom.  

Just be sure to put in a good ventilation system.

>         I just reached the half century mark but still feel 45.  
>      I have a wonderful SWMBO of almost 17 years and a great 11 
>      year old SWMBOette.

>         I've have been a woodworking wanna-be for a long time and 
>      have been watching Norm and his friends on TV for a few 
>      years and thought that if you wanted to make a table you had 
>      to have a few thousand dollars worth of tailed apprentices 
>      and a small barn to put them all in.  All in all, pretty 
>      discouraging, whenever I would say that I'm going to start, 
>      all I could see was money being spent on machines, electric 
>      power, dust collection systems and sound suppression.  
>      Pretty soon the urge would die. 

You have to make alot of furniture to justify the cost of a Normite
shop.  The best I can figure, you a couple grand in tools before you
can make anything with p*w*r t**ls.  You'ld be amazed at what you
can make with a few saws, some chisels and a couple of planes.  You
can spend more but you don't have to.  If you shop carefully, you can
get everything you need (not want) to make some decent stuff for
less than a high end r**t*r.
The other thing you'll notice is that you won't have to make nearly
so many jigs.  These things make sense in production, when you're
doing alot of them, but not for the average user.

>         I've seen hand tools at flea markets and antique shops 
>      but thought that they were only for collectors,  no one 
>      actually used them.  I really mean that, so needless to say, 
>      I was delighted to find this group to realize that I could 
>      actually learn to use hand tools to build something.  
>      I have a typical Harry Homeowner skill level when it comes 
>      to experience ( deck, chair rail, shutters etc.) but since 
>      finding this group I've done a lot of reading and now I'm 
>      ready to start putting together a real workshop with the 
>      only electricity being use for lighting.

You might want to use a little electricity for AC, it gets hot in
VA, I remember.  One word of caution, there is a strange disease
on this site called "COLLECTING".  Initial symptoms are "I already
got a #5 but I'll just get a 5C to keep it company."  If this begins
to happen, pray to User Tool Gods for deliverence, because the road
down to collecting is steep and slippery.

>         I'll go back to lurk mode now.  I was going to say to be 
>      gentle with my first few questions but from what I've seen 
>      that isn't necessary.  It's a real pleasure and relief to 
>      see how patiently newbies are treated here.

BTW (that's by the way around here) that "irs.gov" would be THAT
IRS.GOV would it.

Jake Spiller
spiller@b...

I'm just a user. I don't have time to collect.

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