My mom and dad have always been pretty handy with a tool in their hands
since they built the two houses that I lived in growing up, but that's not
what I sat down to write about.  Sure, they instilled the "handyman"
attitude that I got in my gut, but they're true power users.

Me?  Like many on this list, I watched the his high normness on Saturday
afternoons in amazement...amazement in the size of his shop, the amount of
tools he owned, and that he got to make stuff from wood for a living.  I
didn't even own a handsaw (let alone a Unisaw) at that time (early '90s),
since I was still in graduate school.  Still, Ole Norm planted the
woodworking hobby seed deep inside, and I knew that, someday, I wanted to
make stuff from wood.

As time went on, I cavorted with my thoughts, attempting to dream up ways
to legally get money to buy some of Normie's tools.  Having maxed-out a
credit card once, I didn't want to travel that dark road again.  Somehow, I
found rec.norm and seined a post out of the general clutter on the idea of
Scary-Sharp(tm).  This post lead me to handtools by a route that eludes me.
At last, I'd found a way to pursue my hobby without the associated
finacial ruin.

I've read a few books along the way about using handtools.  Michael
Dunbar's book as well as the OLDTOOL frenzy that was obtaining The Complete
Woodworker jump to the front of my mind.  Reading has given me many of the
insights I've needed to flatten boards and then make them into different
shapes.

Handtools are all that I've used, thus far.  I don't see myself going any
other way.

kam