I'm 33, and have a SWMBO and two daughters (4 and 2).  I got into
woodworking several years ago after receiving Moser's book on Shaker
furniture as a Christmas gift.  My wife and I were renovating an old
Victorian house in Toronto at the time, so we had some power tools (radial
arm saw, belt sander).  I bought some Japanese saws and I made a few doweled
tables and bookshelves with knotty pine.  Decent pieces, but nothing to be
real proud of.  During the renovation, I found a maroon coloured (that's
Canadian for colored by the way) Stanley block plane in the basement of this
house. After a few trips to the local Lee Valley store, I learned how to
sharpen the blade on Japanese wetstones and continue to use to this plane
today.  My power tool woodworking days were short-lived since the children
came soon and we moved to Hamilton, where I am currently an Assistant
Professor at McMaster University.  I do cancer research in case you're
interested.

Last year, I had to adjust some sticky doors in our current Edwardian house
so out came my trusty maroon block plane.  As I was fixing the door and
making shavings I realized... "Hey!Handplaning is fun."  Not knowing
anything about being a galoot, I went to the local hardware store and bought
a new blue Stanley #4 plane. This, of course, is among the biggest mistakes
of my life. Next, I bought Scott Landis' workbench book and a basement full
of rough sawn hard maple to make a workbench. BIG MISTAKE!  I can safely
tell you from my experience that it is impossible to joint and thickness
hard maple with a new #4.  So the maple sat unused for a few months until I
resolved to find a way to get the Stanley plane to work properly.  This led
to the discovery of Blood and Gore and all the old tool stuff.  These great
revelations lead to my acquisition of several prewar Stanleys and the
discovery of scary sharp sharpening.  So now I'm plugging away on my
workbench. The base is almost done. Since finding the porch, I have
discovered a Stanley #100 in our root cellar, which I have cleaned by
electrolysis. I dragged the whole family to a flea market in the vain hope
of finding something Stanley. The power tools (especially the router) sit
unused and forgotten in our basement. Good god, I'm a galoot.