Hi,
I have been following this list for some weeks now and enjoying it. 
As per custom, I'm posting my background. I live in New Zealand in 
the South Pacific (and it's not part of Australia!!)
Started woodworking about 8 years ago through one of my brothers who 
was active and showed me some of the basics. This was as relaxation 
from my day job in computers.
I actually started off using handtools cause I was short of workspace 
and $$$ - I found it cheaper to buy second hand tools and a lot of 
fun to find a bargin in local junk shops. I did get a rude shock when 
I became wealthy enough to buy new tools - discovered that quality 
was poor and the tools didn't "fit the hand". 
One result of cruising junk shops was that I went through a collector 
phase. However, a shift between cities meant I had to downsize my 
tool collection, so made a conscious decision to become a user 
instead (sold off many tools but SWMBO says I have too many planes). 
Main focus is on building furniture bits and pieces using hand tools 
- nothing too serious or complicated, and the rate of progress is 
slow. I'm still buying the odd plane or two, provided they're 
interesting and fun to use.
As a final note, I would hazard a guess that in England, Australia 
and New Zealand the local term for a galoot is either "old coot" or 
"codger".
Cheers
Paul Cleary