A passing thought...

[Ken Werner]

As I add my $.02 here and there I am reminded of an old story:

A fellow had been a good man his entire life, living through many good and bad times. One of the worst was when he lived in Johnstown and the time of the Johnstown flood. Somehow, he managed to survive it, saving some neighbors in the process. For the rest of his life he loved to tell about his experiences there.

When he died and got to the pearly gates, he was welcomed. St. Peter asked if there was anything special he'd like to do there in Heaven. "Well," the fellow said "every once in awhile, maybe we could get a few folks together, so I can tell them about the Johnstown flood"

St. Pete replied, "that would be just fine, but bear in mind Noah may be in the audience"

So, to my skilled and learned friends out there, a tip of the hat. I'll keep tossing in my couple of pennies, knowing that somewhere in the creek there are woodworking Noahs.

Best wishes to all,
Ken

[Maurice Metzger]

Well, it just might bring Noah out of his shell... go right ahead!

Maurice

[Larry Gelder]

So Brother Ken... does this mean you'll do the box tutorial?

Larry

[Hans Braul]

Ken, that was wonderful. I often feel like the guy in your story. I chime in with my $0.02, knowing that Singers and the Cohens of the world are out there.....

That's why this forum is such a treat.

Hans

[Ken Werner]

Larry, thanks for your encouragement. I'd like to do it. Never have done one, and I'll need Ben's help for the photography. [And he's got a lot of homework lately.] But I do think so. And Hans, I feel like the guy in the story too, minus surviving the Johnstown flood.

[Zahid Naqvi]

Well Ken, woodworking is a funny thing. When I started at this hobby I didn't have any local buddies to learn from, well not untill I discovered Dennis.The problem is I am a very visual learner, and hand skills make it even more difficult to describe verbally. If a picture is worth a thousand words imagine how many words an in person demo is worth. Anyway, when I started I asked a lot of questions, but when the time came to actually do some thing I discovered many peculiarities that could only be found by indulgence and not discussion.

To give you an example when I started learning hand cut dovetails, I noticed that the Japanese Dozuki is favored by many due to the pull stroke and smooth cut. So that's what I used. I had limited success, i.e. some dovetails came out good, some not so good and some downright ugly. But I never tried any other type of saw. A few months ago I was in Dallas at Wood Craft and they had a sale on hand saws, so I picked up a small Crown gentleman's saw. Just a few weeks ago I made an open handle for this saw and sharpened it(rip filed). Man! what a difference. Now that I can compare both, the Dozuki and the Dovetail, I noticed that it is the extra repetitions/strokes needed due to the finer teeth of the Dozuki that caused problems for me. I can cut about 3-4 times faster using this rip filed Crown, and for some reason that is the most critical aspect for accuracy in my case. I am sure I can develop expertise with any tool with practice, but I if you can discover your natural inclinations it make the learning process so much easier.

So why did I get on this tangent Oh yeah! don't be afraid to offer your advice just because you consider yourself a novice or less experienced (I think you are just being modest I saw the box you made). Many times I will offer my perspective on a question posed at SMC, and in the ensuing debate I will discover some errors in my technique. Subsequently this turns into a learning experience for myself as well. So don't feel shy offer up your perspective, variety adds spice to life.

[Tyler Howell]

Ladies and Gents,
It is the $.02 the add up, collect interest, grow and accumulate into the the vast wealth of information we have here.
Like the creeks, rivers, lakes and oceans, all are just a collection of tiny rain drops.
Keep pitching those $0.02 in, they can't help but grow into something very special.

[James Mittlefehldt]

Zahid I am the same I only started woodworking six or seven years ago and from the start I wanted to do hand tools, much to the dirision of the guys I worked with at the time, all in fun and good natured mind. I have offered my meager advice on occasion as well and found out more in the ensuing discussions.

So I would say ken by all means if you have something that works for you then by all means tell us about it, we, or at least I am eager to hear how others do various things.

Tyler that was almost poetic, thanks for that, and by the way how are you doing I have not seen you about too much recently.

Perhaps a sort of testimonial thread might be in order, ie how I got started at this hand tool stuff and why. Imagine how fast this information would be decimated without the net.

[Eddie Darby]

Thanks for the enjoyable story!!!!

Ah if you can survive a small flood, then you can survive a big one. You just do the same except on a bigger scale.

The lecture to attend would have to be on boat building 101 instructor Noah.

I would ask Noah if he used a bevel up or bevel own plane.