Maybe this is the beginning of a thread of interest maybe not.... I've beenreading this ng for awhile now and see quite a few regulars, a fewparticipants that post only once and awhile, the occasional lurker who'sname I haven't recalled seeing before....What's your story? How did you getstarted in woodworking?I'll keep mine short. My grandfather was a carpenter out of necessity, hadto find some sort of work to support his family. Passed it on to my fatherwho also worked with his hands out of necessity in order to put himselfthrough college. I grew up learning from him. When I was young he was themanager of a local millwork operation and he drug me to work with him in thesummers while I was out of school. I learned to use the tools in the shopat an early age. Learning how to work with my hands backfired on me since Idropped out of college to get married...I just knew I could make a livingwithout a formal education. We divorced 6 months later and I never made itback to college.Fast forward 14 years....I remarried a woman with 2 young daughters. I'veput a shop together mostly because I wanted to build them things they wouldcherish and use...like my father did for my sister and me. That's where Iam today...I build things for the builders I sell lumber to so I can justifythe expense of the equipment I have in my shop so I can periodically turnout piece by piece for my daughters and wife.What's your story?

Nearly the same, have several of my great grandfather tools hanging on thewall. He built 1726 pianos in his lifetime. Shop was retooled during WWIIand made caskets for the govt during the war, retooled again after that.Dad/Grandad made their fortune on a new product called "Formica". They castabout for a while until they landed a contract with a hamburger joint calledMcDonalds in the 60's. They sold some furiture. Never had more than 7 folksworking for them at one time. I've been gluing up countertops since I was10. Have been part of just about every aspect of furniture building since,home renovations mostly custom kitchens and offices. Got lost for a while inthe computer industry after taking several CAD classes but have since foundmy way back to woodworking . Hey we all do something stupid when we areyoung don't we? I did make enough cash in the I.S. biz to outfit the shoppretty well. Been working as a tradesman in custom home building industry inSouthern Wisconsin recently. Pretty...

How did you come to be in woodworking?

Jan 18, 2004 64 Replies

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Conan the Librarian 22 years ago

I like that idea. Maybe rig something like they use for drafting tables.

I'll file that statement away for future reference, Lar. :-)

Hmmm ... I don't remember seeing that, but that's what I was thinking about doing as well. I just have to verify that my dogholes are spaced uniformly enough to work. :-)

Ayup. But it might be overkill for me. I do a carving project about every third or fourth one. Wait a sec ... that means I would use it even more than you, Lar.

Chuck Vance Just say (tmPL) Heh. :-)

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Larry Jaques 22 years ago

On 25 Jan 2004 11:37:03 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@swt.edu (Conan the Librarian) brought forth from the murky depths:

Of that I have absolutely no doubt. ;)

So much for my memory. June 2000, on page 18 of FWW was a _shoulder_ vise.

You might have to switch to 1/2" dowels, eh? That's whatcha get for using jummyjunk, erm, pineywood, son.

Pffffft!

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Mark Jerde 22 years ago

I like making useful stuff. I especially like making useful things from other peoples' castoffs.

A goal I have is to be able to prototype anything I can think of (hopefully for profit .) I bought a tap and die set to put an aftermarket fence on my contractor saw and the metalworking bug bit me. Today I found affordable welding classes in my area. ;-)

Plastics and ceramics are sure to follow. I alreadly know quite a bit about TTL and LRC circuits.

"From Ideas To Devices!"

-- Mark

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Conan the Librarian 22 years ago

Er, no ... the reason I'm uncertain about the spacing being dead-on enough for mounting a carving bench that way is because I was fairly casual in laying out the holes. One slow day after I finished the bench I just decided to add some on. I took a long ruler/straight-edge and went to work. Grabbed my crispy MF Holdall brace and a 3/4" ship's auger and had 'em done in about 30 minutes. (The bit was almost smoking hot to the touch. :-) So they might be off by 1/16" here or there. Not a big deal for how I use the dogholes on a daily basis, but too much for attaching a carving benchlet.

Chuck Vance

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Jim 22 years ago

How did I come to be in woodworking?

I took a left at rc airplane hobby, pitted after the rc car hobby, and arrived here at a hobby my wife actually LIKES me to spend money on (I trade furniture for tools).

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