Your Best Work Is In Front of You...

[Scott Quesnelle]

Hmm.. always seems I'm the outlier in hobbies I pick.

Blacksmithing, woodworking, machining, oldtooling.. All the making stuff hobbies seem to be populated by people older than me... Why is it?

And Doug as for the outright liar part, I doubt it.. Though some have been known to stretch things a bit after a few drams of the good stuff. I'm sure the four hour thing was just a bit of boasting.... I can build a plane in X hours with one hand tied behind my back. Oh wait, you aren't the one who works one handed, your partner in production is.

Now if I can just find some more neanders in the guelph area, we might just be able to get ourselves organized and do the odd get together or something.

So any neanders who are planning to be in Guelph anytime soon let me know, and we can see about swapping tales of wood butchering and hand tool use.

Scott Quesnelle
Guelph, Ontario

[scott pollack]

being 38, im almost at that age bracket and i hope its ok to post this. with that being said , here is my 2 cents worth.

i enjoy the hand tool approach because it relaxes me. i am a trucking dispatcher by trade and its a very hectic and stressfull job. having the privilege of coming home to a loving wife and to be able to quitely work on a piece of oak or cherry is very relaxing. i like the sound of the plane against the wood, the feel of a sharp chisel paring ever so slightly a sliver of wood from a mortise or the small shaivings i get from a scraper card. it really calms me down. and as others have said, i dont have the space or money for bigger power tools. im not sure i would enjoy the noise and having asthma , i dont need the extra dust!

i consider myself an intermediate ww. im still learning with each project and i hope to learn until i cant do this anymore. i took up furniture making again because we could use some good pieces in the house and what is available in stores in just plain junk! i have sold one piece and hope to sell a few more but mostly this is for us. i am currently in the middle of two projects. im taking a cabinetmaking class at the local votech and there i am making a colonial linen closet out of red oak that we will use as our kitchen pantry. at home , i am building my son an entertainment center.so far so good on both.

as far as my dream project, a roll top desk would be it. ive wanted to make one for a long time and i hope the time is coming soon to start. i would love to have it come out right and for kathleen to look at it and say " wow, thats really nice" . more than anything i want to make her proud of me. and to see her smile and be just so happy about what ive made makes it all worth it.

lastly , 20 years from now i hope to still be doing this. ill still have my table saw, miter saw and router but i would like a better collection of planes and chisels by then. and i hope to have improved upon my skills so i can look back and say remember when i couldnt cut this right or when i couldnt join this properly. to be able to do things better, not necessarily quicker , would be fine with me. i would like to improve my design skills and not rely on store bought measured drawings.

well, thanks for listening. scotty

[Steve Kubien]

I grew into an electric woodworker. Dad had the tablesaw, drill press, routers, sanders etc. That just seemed to be the way to go and learn stuff. After he died, I found an old no-name #5 and some saws. Searches on the net brought me to the Pond, Porch and other sites for info on using and sharpening these tools. Wow, the slope is VERY slippery. Now I'm trying to go more and more neanderthal. The plane collection grows, chisels are sharp and saws are within easy reach.

I find myself designing some small pieces these days (boxes, candle stands and such). Nothing very elaborate. That will come someday. For now I am trying to improve the skills I have and learn some new ones. I'm getting better with dovetails. M&T's are next. My ability with planes is coming along nicely. Time and money are significant factors for a 32 year old with 2 kids so I won't be running out to buy a real nice tenon saw anytime soon (guess I'll have to learn to sharpen the old one Dad had).

The future is too vast to know much about. I'd like to teach my kids about this great hobby. Who knows, maybe one of them will be the next Frid or Krenov. Supplimenting my income would be nice, if only to buy more tools and take some classes. As for a project goal....I really like Krenov's cabinet-on-stand pieces. I'd like to get some really wild looking poplar, make curved doors and drawers, make a teak stand and have the shlefs inside appear to float without support. Stand back and be able to say, "It's just the way I wanted it". Until then, I will continue to pursue the perfect, fluffy shaving. I know it's out there somewhere.

Great topic Doug!

Steve Kubien

[Ralph Umphfres]

Eleven years ago this month I found myself getting a liver transplant. I was at the time instructing for a Midwest co. I had a nice shop with all of the tools to fix autos and computers. a I found that this was no longer the line of interest I wished to pursue. I started reading and the rest they say is history. I fall dead in the middle of your age group and plan to live way beyond the top limit. There is no rush, no noise, just peace and quite and I like it that way. Woosh woosh down the slop or I mean across the board.

[Richard Gillespie]

Being on the high end of the age scale given at 57 makes me a little nervous. I just don't yet have the confidence in my skill sets that I see demonstrated daily by the contributors to this and other forums.

I started down the the power tool path years ago. When I retired from a job I had grown very tired of, I wanted to learn professional, production wood work. I went to work in a local semi custom furniture/cabinet making shop. I quickly learned that I wasn't too fond of mass production wood working. I did enjoy being given the occasional special one of a kind job to do. After over fours experience I left that job. I had became very turned off on production woodworking and was having problems with the very dusty environment.

After a few months sitting at home lurking on woodworking forums I revived my interests. Now, however, I've become more and more interested in the hand tool methods. So much so, that I've bought a number of planes and saws on ebay. Some of these I've attempted to restore and use. They have become favorites. I now reach for hand tools first and power equipment when needed.

I am absolutely amazed at how much knowledge is being shared on these forums. The information I've received is invaluable. But knowledge is like an inverted pyramid. The little gem you learn today makes you want to learn so much more. I only hope that the information is being saved and compiled for future woodworkers. I've found in my family that love for woodworking isn't always past down to the next generation. Neither of my sons are interested.

Every time I do a piece of furniture, I hope that It will survive for many years and continue to give visual and tactile pleasure to those that encounter or use it. Every piece, I try to stretch my horizons, to use methods I've never used before. That has, however, sometimes, caused me grief trying to fix mistakes.

Most of my recent work has gone to family who seem very appreciative of the quality and visual appeal of the pieces. I hope these pieces last in the family for many years. I hope I do this right but I going to try to attach pictures of a pencil post canopy bed I just built for my son and daughter-in-law. We set the bed up in the family room and surprised them with it on Thanksgiving day. The attached picture is the bed set up in their house with them in in.

[Doug Evans]

Why dont you hook up with Rajiv, in Kitchener. Ben and I would probably participate and I'm pretty sure we could suck in a number of others.

Regards,

Doug

[Scott Quesnelle]

I've gotten together with Rajiv once at his place and I saw him last week.

Will probably post something over on that canadian woodworking site to see who all in the KW area is interested in getting together to drink coffee or other liquids and swapping sources tales and what not.

Hope you guys are having a good Xmas season.

Scott Quesnelle