I have been a part-time woodworking hobbiest since 2008, mainly on my lathe but occasionally doing flat work for cutting boards, framing, making beehives, toys, etc., always using a jointer, planer, table saw,chop saw, router... Whenever I walk into the shop I immediately turn on air filtration, put on 2 levels of hearing protection, turn on a dust collector and don a Trend Airshield when using a machine and feel somewhat isolated from what I'm doing with all of the noise and protection. Trying to listen to music in the shop is wasted energy. All that being said, I love woodworking, spending time in my shop and slowly improving my skills while rapidly increasing my burn pile. Having recently retired, I now have more time to dedicate to my hobbies. Since I am experiencing an unrelated hearing loss, hand tools interest me and I began lurking this forum. Last Saturday I took a sharpening class at The Workbench (Easthampton, MA) in preparation for a joinery class that starts later this month. The class was excellent and I brought the blade of a wooden hand plane my grandfather brought over from the UK in the mid-20s back to life. I cannot tell you the emotional connection I felt with him as I realized his oil stone was not truly flat when he last sharpened his plane at least 50 years ago. Now it has a mirror finish and works wonderfully! That in turn led me on Sunday to sign up for a beginner's class this summer at LN. Surprisingly, LN says you need to bring your own tools as they do not have enough for the class to use (brilliant marketing on their part). Well... I never did really celebrate selling my company and retirement last July soooooo, last night, I opened a box containing an embarrassing quantity of LN saws, chisels and planes and accessories (not that embarrassing as I am completely convinced I deserve them). BTW, a great thing about living in New Hampsha' is UPS ground from LN is next day!
Today, I cut the ugliest dovetails ever created and loved every second of it! No air filters, no hearing protection, just me and a Youtube video having the most fun I've had in my shop in ages. They absolutely are the worst dovetails ever but I simply wanted to get my hands on those gorgeous tools and play. My wonderful wife told me they were great which now makes me wonder about every other compliment she has ever said about my woodworking! Tonight, I'm a happy old boy who is feeling like it's Christmas! Thanks for reading this. I just HAD to tell someone about a great couple of hours in the shop and figured you folks would understand. I'll be back with questions!
John
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Originally Posted by john snowdon
