Greetings,
I am 37 years old and have actively been involved in woodworking for about
2 years now. My growth as a woodworker is (at least so far) very slow due
to the rest of my life. I am a Software Engineer specializing in software
for medical instruments and devices (for example, a blood analyzer). The
company I am employed with is a small, but growing company that contracts
such work from the manufacturers. We are very busy. I also have a large
(by modern standards) family with four children (a boy, boy and girl twins
and another boy). I own a home that I call "The Projects". For these
reasons, my available time for woodworking comes with great difficulty. I
took one-on-one lessons from a professional woodworker here in Ann Arbor
for about a year and have been building a garage to be my shop (it only
needs wiring!). I have (almost) completed one project: an end table of
cherry and birds eye maple. This project made it starkly clear that I am
way too perfectionistic and deliberate to consider a career in woodworking
(good traits for one who writes software for life critical devices). Maybe
that will change with experience.
My short-term goal for woodworking is to make furniture for myself and
anyone else who might like my work. I have not thought much passed that.
My current designs are markedly "Krenovian", but without what I call the
bell-bottom effect (as exhibited in his books). I would love to attend the
College of Redwoods.
I experience a certain trepidation when I consider collecting tools as a
hobby, as I already am involved in an insane collecting habit. That is
collecting stereo classical and jazz records (LPs) from the golden age of
recording - from 1954 to the mid-sixties. If you think finding planes is
hard, try finding thirty plus year old records in mint condition. Yes, I
collect them to play them. They are the best sounding recordings ever
made, CDs notwithstanding, IMHO. Nonetheless, there are tools I would like
to buy and I occasionally run into tools when I am searching for those
records. Most I will buy for my own use, but if I learn enough to be able
to pick out a treasure, you may see it here.
Well that is probably enough for now. I am glad I found this group and
look forward to participating.
-- PKE
"We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of dreams."
-- Willie Wonka
----------------------------------------------------------------
Private replies: ebert@c...
|