Welcome!!! 

----- Original Message ----
From: Mike 
To: oldtools@r...
Sent: Wed, April 27, 2011 11:59:19 AM
Subject: [OldTools] BIO Mike Wood

I have lurked in the shadows of the porch for some time
now, and with a recent shove down the slope by an unnamed list member, I thought
 
it time I come into the
sunshine and introduce myself. I am in my mid 50's, and
am blessed to live in beautiful East Tennessee. I work for a small company in 
the industrial supply field, a job I have
somehow managed to keep for the past 33 years.

I got my first taste of hand tools from my father via a
a Christmas gift of a Stanley tool kit when I was about 9 years old. Fast 
forward to the 8th grade, and the shop teacher opening that wonderful cabinet of
 
tools. (he made us draw and lable each tool before we ever were able
to use them) His class gave me my first real taste of woodworking, and some of 
the things I learned there
I still use today. My first shop came several years later - my front porch with 
some plastic to keep the winter out
while I made Christmas gifts for family. Those first efforts
were almost entirely done with powered devices. I am now blessed to have a much 
larger and more comfortable
place to work in my basement shop where I still mainly make things for family 
and friends.

My "skills" still lean heavily on power tools, but there has
always been an affection for hand tools in the background. I have recently been 
trying to learn some hand tool skills and to make use of them on my projects
including my current project - a blanket chest for my sister (which like most of
 
my projects gives me a reason
to add to my tool chest)

I won't say that I am a collector, tools just seem to keep
turning up on my bench. Some follow seem to just follow
me home, others are in the nice boxes that the postman
seems to think he should leave on my doorstep.

I will try and keep quiet, in the shadows under the porch,
and keep my questions to a minimum so as not to stir up
much trouble.
Mike Wood
Maryville, Tennessee
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