This is a very interesting topic for me. I've always enjoyed watching people do the opposite of what is expected. For example, at my wife's Akido dojo, there are many women would study Akido intensely while their husbands sit on the sidelines (I'm one of those). I revel in the fact that my 60+ year old wife can kick tushie if she needed to. The fact that she's tougher than I am doesn't bother me one whit. (She's also a college professor and the best cook I know of. Awesome woman!)
But I digress...
Right now, there are three people who I admire greatly for the knowledge of hand tools and wood working - Bob Smalser (US), Derek Cohen (Australia) and Alf (UK). Bob and Derek are fairly well known here, but the only time I encountered Alf is in the UK Workshop forum.
Alf is a very prolific writer, whose reviews combine indepth knowledge of tools and woodworking, balanced analysis, clarity of writing, and a wry wit. In the UK Workshop, Alf is THE hand tool authority.
When I first read Alf's reviews, I thought Alf was short for Alfred or Alfie. Nope. Those are the author's initials. Alf is Alice Frampton. (Nobody knows what "L" stands for.)
For many men, this is a bit of a shock when we find out Alf is a women. But that lasts about 30 seconds. For the vast majority of guys, the sudden knowledge that Alf is a women changes our opinion of HER not one whit!
My personal reaction was "Cool!" I think that women bring the same things to the "woodworking" table that men do. And perhaps a little different perspective too. This is good. When someone provides me with knowledge and skills that help me achieve my goals, their sex, race, age, sexual orientation, or ethnicity is completely irrelevant.
And for the silly male twits who are threatened by women entering this male bastion... Well, tough! That's their problem!
If you haven't had a chance to read Alf's reviews, I strongly encourage you to check out the UKWorkshop forum. The extension is ".co.uk", not ".com". Look in the "Hand Tools" forum and click on the sticky at the top labeled "Hand Tool Review Links".
Also, Alf has a nice website called "CornishWorkship". Again, with the ".co.uk" extension. There's a lot of good information there, including tool reviews, step-by-step projects, tips for Galoots, and a link to her Blog.
Regards,
Dan.
p.s., at last count, Alf has posted 10,583 times on UKWorkshop. Very prolific writer!
p.p.s, send me a PM if you have difficulty finding her posts or website.
It's amazing what you can accomplish in the 11th hour, 59 minute of any project. Ya just have to keep your eye on the goal.