> As for the 147 of you out there (yes, I know who you are... these
> computers are nothing, if not thorough) who are shirking your social
> responsibilities ...

I may not be the most social guy in the world, but I'm not going to let
myself get lumped in with a group of shirkers again, so here goes:

I'm Scott Wiesner, live near Boulder, Colorado, work for Sun
Microsystems as a manger of software development. I'm just getting
into woodworking and found the oldtools list a few months ago. My main
interest is in fine furniture. I've never built any, though I've
always hoped to. I find Krenov's books very inspiring.

At the moment, this is more a "virtual" hobby than real. I've spent
*far* more time and money on books and magazines than I have on wood.
Working on building up the tool collection, but still have a long way
to go. I built model airplanes for many years, so I've always
appreciated a workshop. When I built my house a few years back, I
told the builder *not* to do any rough-ins in the basement. "The
basement is for storage and a workshop", I told him. We also designed
things so the door to the basement lines up with the door out to the
garage. The primary consideration at the time was getting model
airplane wings (which tend to be rather board-like, maybe 2x10 5' long,
made of balsa) into the house safely, but it also means I can carry
long boards and plywood straight to the basement with no problem.

The trigger for my renewed interest in woodworking was building a grape
arbor last summer. Nothing fancy, but still *much* nicer than what you
will get prefab at Home Depot. That project reminded me how much I
enjoy building real things, as opposed to software. I figured starting
some woodworking as a hobby would be a nice balance to work. Around
this time a group of artists in Boulder held an "open studios" tour,
and I got a chance to spend some time with a high-end furniture
maker. I had planned on going the "Norm" route, but after talking
with this guy for a while, he asked me why I was interested in
woodworking. If I wanted to turn out a bunch of stuff efficiently,
power tools might be the way to go, but if I was looking for a hobby, a
way to relax after work, he asked whether I thought screaming,
dangerous tools would really provide that. A very enlightening
conversation! I may still get some power tools such as a bandsaw, but
I'm starting out on the handtool route.

He pointed me at Peter Korn's book, "Working with Wood". It's
excellent, giving an overview of both power and hand tools, then
getting you started with the basics: planing a board "four-square" by
hand. It then moves to mortice and tenon joints and dovetails, showing
how to do things with both handtools as well as a variety of power
tools. Highly recommended.

I confess to not being particularly interested in *old* tools --
antique shops and flea markets are not for me. Quality hand tools and
techniques are why I'm here. Lie-Nielsen, Bridge City, and our own IT
(my DT saw's been on order since October...) all make my mouth water.
Can anyone recommend a source for new handsaws other than the IT? I'd
also welcome comments on the Lie-Nielsen products. Are the 212 and 2
useful? Should I go for a "normal" or low-angle block plane? How's
their new adjustable mouth block plane?

One final question. I understand some people radius the edge of smooth
plane blades to avoid marks from the corners. Do you do the whole edge, 
or just round off the corners? What's the technique for doing this?
If you only round off the corners, do you sharpen them? How? 

Lots of text to say, "Hi".

Scott