I am an amateur woodworker in Santa Barbara, CA, reviving an interest in
woodworking after twenty-five years of being distracted by other pursuits.

The process of gathering tools and learning how to use them feeds my
interest for the moment. In time I would like to tackle such projects as
Shaker style furniture. I am self-taught, not having had any instruction
apart from what I have gotten from books, tv and now a single video. Like
many others I've watched Norm's show, but he always leaves me
dissatisfied, such as when he lifted the lid of a small cherry jewelry box
and the still planer rippled surface of the wood was briefly evident.

I got started down the slippery slope most recently after making plans for
a simple box to hold a VCR. As the planning for that proceeded I realized
that I didn't have the right tools for the job. Saws I had, but not a
shooting board or adequate plane. This led to gathering together a Stanley
5 jack plane, an old 60½ block plane then a no. 4 smoother and a 5½ jack
plane. Stanley 6 and 7 planes are on my list of things to watch for. And
of course I wanted to expand my small collection of sharpening stones,
added a few oilstones and now I'm a convert to waterstones. And maybe my
little saws aren't quite what I need so I'd like to find some good user
saws, crosscut, rip, tenon and dovetail. Learning how to sharpen them has
led me to gather together a pile of mill and taper files, a Stover saw
vise and a few Stanley sawsets, Harold "Dynamite" Payson's book and Tom
Law's video.

When I first became interested in woodworking so long ago it was Aldren
Watson's _Country Furniture_ that captured my attention. Later James
Krenov's books were important to me, together with Bernard Jones'
_Complete Woodworker_. More recently I have been studying David Finck's
_Making and Mastering Wood Planes_ David Charlesworth's _Furniture Making
Techniques_ Vol. 2, Graham Blackburn's _Traditional Woodworking Handtools_
and Mike Dunbar's _Restoring, Tuning and Using Classic Woodworking Tools_.

Leonard Lee's book on sharpening has been something of a bible to me
lately. Would anyone care to comment on the merits of Jim Kingshott's, Don
Geary's, or Ian Kirby's books on the subject?

I spent this afternoon sharpening a few plane irons, using an Eclipse
honing guide and the waterstones. The Eclipse, and the adaptations of it
seen in David Charlesworth's book and on Jeff Gorman's website fascinate
me. I've been making plans for a blade setting jig similar to that in
Leonard Lee's book.

As I plan for more tool purchases in the near future I am thinking of
upgrading my small set of measuring and marking tools. Starrett rules,
straightedges, bevels and protractors appeal to me at the moment.

At times I find myself wanting to know far more about metalworking--not to
the point of setting up a machine shop but to learn basic techniques for
forming metal parts for woodworking projects. Might someone recommend a
good reference work along this line? I have no budget for metal working
machines but would like to learn something about using a bending brake,
files, drills and taps, and cutting light sheet metal.

So, for now I am gaining practical experience, making a lot of mistakes
and learning. Some weekend soon I may actually make that box for the VCR.

Best wishes,

Leon E. Zimlich
Lzimlich@e...