Hi all-
Since most of my "contribution" to the Porch for the next foreseeable future wil
l be neophyte requests for info that's blatantly obvious, I figured I should at
least post a bio to let you know who I am. I'm mid 30's, married with one wife
(damn, I'm not a Mormon) and no GIT's. I currently don't even have any pets u
nless you count fish. I don't.
I live in Austin, TX now, but grew up mostly in Maine, and try to get back the
re as often as I can. My father is responsible for my interest in woodworkin
g. Over the years, Dad built many things out of wood, usually one type of
thing at a time-- getting to the point where he would start to be quite good a
t making it. Then, at the point where he could be darn good if he kept it up
, he'd try his hand at building something else.
Up until recently, my experience in woodworking has largely been watching my D
ad make stuff. I'll try to give a brief rundown of this, together with my ad
ventures with wood.
Late 60's to mid 70's: Dad has built a couple of guns (Kentucky flintlock ri
fles), and tinkered with making a few knives. I'm mostly climbing trees.
Late 70's: Dad makes his first wooden strip canoe in the basement of our hou
se. He feverishly works to finish it before 1980, when I will go off to coll
ege. The reason being that he doesn't want to have to dig the hole beside
the foundation of our house where the bulkhead will be put in to allow him to
get the canoe OUT of the basement. He finishes in plenty of time--I dig the ho
le. As far as wood goes, I'm mostly splitting it and burning it in our woo
d stove.
Early 80's: Dad's building more strip canoes. I attempt to lumber pulp woo
d on our family acreage in Garland, Maine as a nice summer job. It rained a lo
t, and the price of pulp wood fell through the floor. Couldn't even find any
mill to take the ~10 cords that me and my two buddies cut. Those piles of w
ood have just about rotted away now. Those old-timers who tell you that a whol
e tree will rot away to nothing in about 15 years know what they're talking
about.
Mid 80's: Dad's back to building Kentucky rifles and knives. I refinish a
couple of antique pieces that my folks had given me to furnish my new apartmen
t in Dallas with-- thereby totally ruining their worth to any serious antique
collector. But gees, I think they look nice with that high gloss poly finish
over the stripped bare wood!
Late 80's: Dad's building furniture. I'm back to burning wood in my totall
y worthless yuppie fireplace in the frigid climes of Dallas, Texas.
Very early 90's: Dad is building a 2700 sq-ft log home on the family land in
Garland--doing the whole house (with a little help) from the exterior to the
trim. I'm thinking that I'd really like to get into woodworking so I could h
ave more furniture.
1992: Dad's finishing up the house. I'm actually up there in Maine with him,
due to his deteriorating health. With a
little bit of guidance (and a mix of hand tools and the other type) I managed
to build a banister, and a couple of box housings for overhead lights. Learn
ed what the heck a miter was. Was told that a jig would help me with make
quicker cuts with the miter saw. So I did a little dance and got thunked up
beside the head. Learned what a jig was.
Mid 1990's: Dad is done woodworking. I want to carry on the tradition, b
ut I'm back in Texas in an apartment, back in graduate school with no money.
Now: To give the "Wheel of Fortune" job info (how to totally give away who y
ou work for without mentioning the company's name) I work for the Employees Re
tirement System of a large state government headquartered in Austin, Texas.
I finally have a house, half a garage for a workshop, and I Really, REALLY w
ant more furniture.
So, I'm acquiring the tools I need, looking for a good source of wood, and doi
ng some reading so that I do this right... And I will be asking stupid quest
ions every now and then. Please bear with me--I'll actually contribute whe
n I can. Sorry this was so long.
-Brent Clukey
"Please don't mistake anything I say for a sign of intelligence"
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