Hello all. 

My name is Stephen Andrews I live in Reading in the UK 
and I have been lurking on the list for about a year and a 
half. I started collecting user tools about 3 years ago
and started woodwork about 1 1/2 years ago. I use
handtools because I don't like noise, I don't like dust, I dont
like spending money if I dont have to and I only have a
small workshop.

Many hours have been spent searching through the 
archives. There's a time warp thing in that archive 
and I got sucked in. 

Having searched through the archives for all your opinions on the best 
wood to make a workbench with I came to the conclusion that the best 
wood is free wood or cheap wood. 

Well to cut a long story short I got hold of some cheep sapele wood and 
built a workbench out of that. Ok its not as hard as rock maple but its 
harder than deal. 

It's taken me a year of spare time to make the thing and I have just 
completed it. Here is the web site for any who are interested: 

http://uk.geocities.com/sapele_bench/ 

The site was designed by me using Publisher but a friend of mine 
striped out all the rubbish (well started again really I think). 

The bench has not been finished yet. I have to wait until the end of 
summer before applying a few good coats of blonde de-waxed shellac. 

Thanks to all the list members for a great archive. 

Regards to all, 

Stephen.
Join the UK's number one for the internet 
www.freeserve.com/time

welcome, its nice to have more Brits here :)

Danny

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Andrews [mailto:hearts-of-oak@f...]
Sent: 07 April 2004 08:35
To: oldtools
Subject: [oldtools] Introduction

Hello all.=20

My name is Stephen Andrews I live in Reading in the UK=20
and I have been lurking on the list for about a year and a=20
half. I started collecting user tools about 3 years ago
and started woodwork about 1 1/2 years ago. I use
handtools because I don't like noise, I don't like dust, I dont
like spending money if I dont have to and I only have a
small workshop.

Many hours have been spent searching through the=20
archives. There's a time warp thing in that archive=20
and I got sucked in.=20

Having searched through the archives for all your opinions on the best=20
wood to make a workbench with I came to the conclusion that the best=20
wood is free wood or cheap wood.=20

Well to cut a long story short I got hold of some cheep sapele wood and=20
built a workbench out of that. Ok its not as hard as rock maple but its=20
harder than deal.=20

It's taken me a year of spare time to make the thing and I have just=20
completed it. Here is the web site for any who are interested:=20

http://uk.geocities.com/sapele_bench/=20

The site was designed by me using Publisher but a friend of mine=20
striped out all the rubbish (well started again really I think).=20

The bench has not been finished yet. I have to wait until the end of=20
summer before applying a few good coats of blonde de-waxed shellac.=20

Thanks to all the list members for a great archive.=20

Regards to all,=20

Stephen.
Join the UK's number one for the internet=20
www.freeserve.com/time

Stephen Andrews wrote:

>Hello all.
>
>My name is Stephen Andrews I live in Reading in the UK etc

Hello Stephen! Another Brit Galoot steps onto The Porch.
Is it me, or are we comfortably into double figures now?

>I dont like spending money if I dont have to

Erm, are you sure you're on the right list...?

>Here is the web site for any who are interested:
>
>http://uk.geocities.com/sapele_bench/
>
>The site was designed by me using Publisher but a friend of mine
>striped out all the rubbish (well started again really I think).

Nice. I've not read it all yet, but I look forward to it. The usual guilt
complex kicked in - yes, I'm a bench *buyer*. Oh the shame...

>Thanks to all the list members for a great archive.

I'll second that.

Cheers, Alf
In sunny Cornwall, UK with an unofficial Galoot hat on her
head. Is that a spittoon-polishing offence? Or can I count
it as rare, one of a kind and get MJD to sell it accordingly? ;~)

_________________________________________________________________
It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! 
http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger

Welcome to the Porch, Andrew.
	I hope you don't mind us rummaging around in your nice website. =20=

That's the price of coming our fron under and sitting among us ;-) =20
 =46rom that public document, http://uk.geocities.com/sapele_bench/  at=20=

the "About Me" link, I came across this text:

"Incidentally trying to build things out of wood working in millimetres=20=

is just silly. It=92s too easy to make a mistake when marking up and =
wood=20
sizes are stupid in metric. Who wants to order a piece of 25.4 x 25.4=20
millimetre wood when you can simply say =93inch square=94. Until I =
learnt=20
how to deal with the fractions (I do it all on a piece of paper my head=20=

is not very reliable even for simple calculations), I always thought=20
that the metric system was great. It probably would be if sizes of=20
items were changed to suit the metric system ie 25 x 25 mm. Problem is=20=

they metric-ized (is that a word? It is now) the imperial dimensions so=20=

that sizes for wood are just silly.

"I hate plastic and loathe chipboard. You can=92t repair plastic once it=20=

breaks and more and more load bearing components seem to be made out of=20=

plastic. They always break just outside the warranty. Plastic has been=20=

the main force of un-empowerment of people in the world today. Its=20
beyond the reach of ordinary people to make and repair plastics. As for=20=

chipboard its just awful. It falls apart at the sight of a drop of=20
water. It cuts terribly, looks foul, and has virtually no strength for=20=

holding fixings."

	Andrew me man:  You are in the Right Place!
		Tom Holloway=

Stephen,
Nice bench. I 'm interested in benches at the moment too because I'm 
ready to rebuild the bench I built about 4 years ago. That is more than 
long enough to discover the mistakes and misconceptions I had when I 
built it. I intend to go traditional with tail and shoulder vices and 
tool cabinet built into the base. I like the "Traditional Workbench" 
design  in "Woodsmith" #50. Which has the internal type tail vise but I 
will modify it by adding a shoulder vise because don't like to deal with 
the racking of  my Lee Valley vices. Nor do I like the Record with which 
I replaced the Lee Valley. This is project # 1273 on my personal want to 
do list.
Best regards and welcome to the list,
Ken
Stephen Andrews wrote:

>Hello all. 
>
>My name is Stephen Andrews I live in Reading in the UK 
>and I have been lurking on the list for about a year and a 
>half. I started collecting user tools about 3 years ago
>and started woodwork about 1 1/2 years ago. I use
>handtools because I don't like noise, I don't like dust, I dont
>like spending money if I dont have to and I only have a
>small workshop.
>
>Many hours have been spent searching through the 
>archives. There's a time warp thing in that archive 
>and I got sucked in. 
>
>Having searched through the archives for all your opinions on the best 
>wood to make a workbench with I came to the conclusion that the best 
>wood is free wood or cheap wood. 
>
>Well to cut a long story short I got hold of some cheep sapele wood and 
>built a workbench out of that. Ok its not as hard as rock maple but its 
>harder than deal. 
>
>It's taken me a year of spare time to make the thing and I have just 
>completed it. Here is the web site for any who are interested: 
>
>http://uk.geocities.com/sapele_bench/ 
>
>The site was designed by me using Publisher but a friend of mine 
>striped out all the rubbish (well started again really I think). 
>
>The bench has not been finished yet. I have to wait until the end of 
>summer before applying a few good coats of blonde de-waxed shellac. 
>
>Thanks to all the list members for a great archive. 
>
>Regards to all, 
>
>Stephen.
>Join the UK's number one for the internet 
>www.freeserve.com/time
>
>Archive: http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/
>To unsubscribe or change options, use the web interface:
>    http://galoots.law.cornell.edu:81/read/?forum=oldtools
>
>  
>