Hello-
        Given that I have begun trading with list members, I guess I should
introduce myself.  I'm Jim Colburn from Nebraska.  Last night, I made my
fourth attempt at signing up on the list.  I sent the fine Mr. O'Deen a
letter suggesting that my inability to sign on-and the list itself!-was all
a conspiracy on the part of my ex-wife.  Guess I was wrong about that...
        I've been playing with old tools since I made my first auction purchase
-at
my first auction-at the ripe old age of six.  Why a six year old wanted a
steam powered bandsaw, that had to be trucked across town in eight or nine
trips of the little red wagon, is something I will never know.  But I did.
        Then I got to find all of the right old folks to tell me (or sometimes
show me) how to remove rust, pour babbitt, set and sharpen the blade, and
finally tune the saw.  Two weeks after it was done, I swapped it for a box
of turn-of-the-century carpenters tools and I haven't looked back.  Been in
and out of tools ever since.
        My woodworking time is fairly evenly divided between furniture building
and woodturning, with some time spent making and restoring tools.  I have
an annoying tendency to spend 20-30 hours building a tool to do a fifteen
minute job.
        A buddy and I do a bit of logging, so I work a lot of ash, walnut and
maple.  Makes it nice for turning- I currently have about a 100 year supply
of wood on hand.  The best oak I get around here is old barn timbers.  Air
drying for a hundred years makes for some stable wood.
        No particular area of tool interest, though I could sink a destroyer if
 I
stacked all my tools on it.  I currently find myself to be a 33 year old
college freshman; add in work and I don't have as much time for making
shavings as I would like.  It can take a day or two for me to get a reply out.
        Love a good trade, love a good yarn.  Don't believe the nasty rumor
floating around these parts that I am trying to build the worlds' largest
collection of carving mallets made from tropical hardwoods.  I'm just
curious about the different working qualities...  Yeah, that's it.
Jim Colburn