Hi

Its time for me to de-lurk.  I have spent about a week listening
to the various discussions on the porch and I suppose it is only
right that I make myself known.

I work building high-end graphics machines at SGI (the best place
in the world to work on this stuff - I am lucky).  I was born
in South Africa and lived many years in Israel before coming to
the States.  As a kid I had no exposure to woodworking at all.
My dad has two left hands and hates for them not to be making
money.  It was also strangely frowned upon for a jewish kid to
actually work with his hands (I have subsequently heard this from
many kids that grew up in the west in families from Eastern Europe).
So I have no history.  I always loved building things (rc planes,
computers, speakers etc) so naturally when I realised I could
actually afford to buy tools I started a serious normesqe
collection.  I used to read r.ww in the old days (5+ years back)
and was impressed by the worthy P Leach's "just say" posts.  I
thought anyone that cantankerous, must know what its all about,
so I bought a #5 from him and that started it.  Actually it was
the whisk of the plane as it took a perfect shaving off a piece
of cherry that turned me on.

I found out (sort of a family secret it appears) that my maternal
grandfather, who died before I was born, was a cabinetmaker in the
old country (Lituania).  Of course, my mother and her brother
got rid of his tools before I could walk.  My parents have a circular
coffee table that he made in their house in Israel.  Its nice.
I have tried finding out more about late nineteenth and early
twentieth century woodworking in Eastern Europe, but I have not
found much written on the subject.

I am trying to get better at the hand tools thing.  I do not
have the skill.  Its a kind of paradox, in order to get skilled
you need time - I am an amateur with a demanding day job, so I
have little time, normtools require much less skill and so I can
(rather guiltily) get more done in less time.  And of course
nothing appeases swmbo like actually building things.

I would love to do a "appenticeship" with someone skilled.  A few
hours a week would help immensely.  There is just so much you can
learn from reading (I tell everyone my hobby is reading about
woodworking).  Two weeks ago I stumbled on a #20 in really good
condition at a garage sale.  I paid very little for it and just
fell in love with its simple functionality.  I suppose it was this
buy that resparked my interest and made me want to become a galoot.

I even ordered a cap.

Thanks for the time.

peter