I've been hiding in the bushes listening to the Porch conversations for
some time now, and I thought I would make my presence known.  Usually when
I have a question, an answer seems to pop up on the list right after I
start thinking about the problem.  Amazing.

My name is Derek Berwald, and I'm 31 year old graduate student in
Agricultural Economics at the University of California, Davis.  When I was
in college, I did some woodworking in the university shop, but eventually
stopped because I didn't have access to the shop equipment any more, plus
it was depressing to see what I could do to really nice wood.  Maybe I
will tell you about my move toward the Galoot lifestyle.  

I wanted a boat.  A small boat, one just for paddling around.  I thought
building it myself would be a good idea.  I started by borrowing one of
those really noisy tailed saws with a round blade, and I made myself a
workbench out of a sheet of 3/4" plywood and some sawhorses.  
The bench works well but I needed to rearrange the garage to put 
an 8' long table in there.  While doing so, I found a Stanley #51
spokeshave back under the spiderwebs.  "pretty neat," I thought, since
most of the boat plans I looked at would need a spokeshave at some point.
I was curious about what I had (how old is it?  will it be any good?...).
I posted a question to Rec.ww, and got pointers to the Blood and Gore and
then ScarySharp pages. Blood and Gore was very interesting, and ScarySharp
pretty valuable to somebody to cheap to buy a bunch of sharpening
equipment.  That was when I first started hearing about "those guys on the
OLDTOOLS list."  Hmmmm.

I started researching what kind of boat I wanted, and along the way got
some good advice:  Every boatbuilder needs a 'moaning chair' to sit in and
think when things go wrong.  I didn't havee a good candidate, and as a way
of practicing my long rusty skills, I decided to make one, from some
internet plans I found.  Again, I used plywood, this time to save money
(graduate student budget, you know), plus it was an Adirondack chair, so I
was going to paint it anyway.  The plans called for a router to ease the
edges after they were cut.  I wasn't about to buy a router, plus it turns
out a spokeshave set real fine can do quite a passable job, even on
plywood, and even when I didn't quite understand how to ScarySharp.  Hmm.  
The chair turned out pretty comfortable.  It even looks pretty good from
10 feet away.  One thing I hated about making it was the noise from the
tailed demons (all borrowed, except the p*w*r dr*ll).  Plus the dust was
horrible; I was wearing a mask, but it was getting everywhere.  It was
along here that I decided I needed a hand plane for something; I don't
remember what, now.  I put in an e-mail to Patrick Leach saying I've heard
old planes are better than new ones, and that he's the guy to buy from.
Not long after, I had a pretty type 19 #5 in the mail.  This was when I
began to really learn how to ScarySharp stuff, which some help from the
Complete Guide to Sharpening.  I learned two things: First, it would be
really nice to have a grinder, rather than using coarse sandpaper on glass
to make primary bevels; and second, it's really easy to cut yourself with
really sharp tools.  I learned more than that, but those were the
important ones.  After I got the plane all sharp, I took it to some
spruce
2x4s I had lying around.  What a revelation!  I had never seen the surface
left by a sharp plane blade.  It turned out this spruce had birdseyes in
it, even.  And great smelling curls of wood, compared to a sander that
would cram my nose full of dust.  I think this was the big change, turning
my back on the tailed demons.  Plus, it turns out I can actually afford
hand tools, unlike the noisy stuff.  Evidence of the change was that I
would actually check out antique stores and the like while travelling.
I took a trip to Oregon, and regret to this day not picking up that $27.50
#7 in southern oregon.  But hey, even though I knew that was a good price,
I didn't *need* it right then.  I'm still annoyed with myself for that,
but I remember where it is, too.  I did pick up a #9 1/2 block plane up
there.  When I got back, my friends started make fun of me for carrying it
around all the time, taking the blade out and putting it back, and opening
and closing the mouth.  Around this time, I cobbled
together a hold down and and tail vise from a bolted together pallet
that I rescued from the trash, combined with some longer screws and a
9/16" wrench I found while off on a bike ride.  This let me hold stuff
down for planing, a big leap forward technology wise for me.  No more
cinderblocks and rope.  At this point, I decided it was handtools for me.  

Someone gave me a couch, and the old end table was too big.  I decided to
make a new one, and decided to make the OLDTOOLS group project table. I
got a cheapo paring chisel, got it really sharp, and found whole new ways
to cut myself.  I was using a hammer for mortising for awhile but then I
glued up a couple pieces of 2x4 and shaped it into an ugly but functional
mallet.  I got a two-sided Japanese saw (two saws in one! Sounded like a
bargain), and learned how to cut myself with the *backside* of a saw, but
it's the first decent saw I've had, and it cuts tenons better than the
hacksaw I was using before.  Soon, I got  a mortising chisel, and life got
easier.  Tapering the legs was really a joy.  I've finished the table, and
it sits in my living room.  It also looks pretty good from 10 feet away.
I think I will need some sort of mitre box for cutting the tenons without
little zig-zags.  

I have a couple questions that building the table makes me ask.  I was
unable to get rid of ridges from planing, so I ended up having to sand.  I
assume these came from the edge of the blade digging in; I tried rounding
it over, but couldn't fix the problem.  Suggestions?  Also, how fast do
you plane?  Do you try to get the plane moving as fast as possible, or do
you go slow to have lots of control?  Fast is more fun, but it seems it
may do a bit more damage.  

Anyway, that's where I am now.  I've decided to make boxes to hold tools,
as a way to practice joinery, and I've decided I need some sort of rabbet
plane and a router to make the tops and bottoms fit.  Does it never end?  

Anyway, I want to thank you all for providing such a great resource to
someone like me.  Oh, I haven't started that boat yet.

db
******
Derek Berwald
derek@p...