I've been lurking here a while, but I broke my silence the other day.  I
guess that means I need to contribute my bio.

I'm 33, and still new to woodworking.  My dad wasn't very interested in it,
and I went to a college prep high school, so I didn't get much woodworking
exposure when I was young.  I did have a little time in shop class in
seventh and eight grade (I still have and use three of the projects I made
back then).  I've also caught a number of Norm's shows.

Since high school, I didn't want to settle down much, so I've been an
apartment dweller and didn't have the room for a shop.  Four years ago I
met my SWMBO, and we married last year.  We're expecting our first child
this summer, and decided that we need different furniture.  Much of it is
good enough, but some things are not baby safe.  We looked around at what
is available, and we couldn't find much that we liked and would fit our
needs without breaking our bank.

Remembering my grade school classes, and some exposure to woodworking such
as Norm's show and some friends, I thought I could make the furniture at
least as well as what we could find in stores.  Even more important, I
could design it to our tastes.  So I started some research.  I checked out
one of Norm's books from the library and a few others that looked
interesting.

We're still living in an apartment, but it's an old duplex and I've got
some room in the basement.  I had two problems to solve.  One was that the
section of the basement that I had to use didn't have any power outlets,
just two light fixtures.  The other was that I had a limited budget.  I
couldn't afford the half dozen power tools needed to have just cheap
versions of Norm's most used tools.

Luckily this spring, browsing the library, I found the book "Hand Tools:
Their Ways and Workings" and the book "Furniture Making: Plane and Simple"
(I think, this is from memory, which may be faulty).  With those books I
realized I don't need that much space and expensive hand tools.  So I
jumped.  I did some more research, and started finding tools and got to
work.  So far I've gotten about 85% of the way through the first project
(my first workbench*).  SWMBO has even already made a Honey Do list of
woodworking projects.

One thing I've learned is that hand tools give much more satisfaction in
getting the work done than power tools.  I have a few power tools, which I
don't use any more.  When SWMBO had me mount some lights on the wall, I
grabbed the brace instead of the cordless drill.

One of my friends thinks I'm nuts for forsaking power tools.  We work
together, he's a designer and I'm the technology manager for a graphic
design firm.  He's amazed that the guy in charge of the computers and other
high tech equipment would use only hand tools.   He keeps telling me to at
least get a cordless drill.  I tell him I have one, but I don't use it any
more.  Yet, he is somewhat supportive.  He has given me an old miter box
since his purchase of a power miter saw prevents him from using his old
miter box.  :)

As I said in my first post, my big problem is now tool lust.  I want at
least 40 planes.  I want lots of different saws.  I want chisels, and
rules, and squares, and hammers, and . . .  I think this will eventually
cost more than Norm's workshop, but I can get started for much less.

So, at this point I think I'll gain much more than I'll contribute to
the Porch.  Yet, I'm a quick learner and good at synthesizing information,
so I hope it won't be too long before I'm contributing useful material.

*The workbench would be a lot easier to make if I had a workbench. :)

Eric Damien Berna
eric@t...