Welcome Adam

>and give anybody and everybody a chance to tell me "all those things I wish
someone had told me >when I was starting out"

Okie dokie, here goes:(remember, you asked for it.)

Build a good bench.

Buy the best tools. They are nearly always a bit more expensive but will
save you ten times what a bad tool will mess up. While this is true skill
can only be built on practice, not purchase.

Don't buy machines until you can work wood by hand efficently and
effectively.

Buy good wood, (you can't polish a turd, you can just sort of smooth it out
a bit)

Read, read, read

Watch and talk to good craftsmen, take their advice.

Above all work wood. Don't spend all your time talking about it and looking
through catalogs, make stuff, even if it is bad stuff.

Remember, there is no jesting with edge tools.


Clarke Green
______________________________________________
C. A. Green Woodworking - Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
Web site - http://cagreen.tripod.com/wood/index.htm