This is way overdue and is submitted as a compliance measure. If I liked the
idea I suppose I'd have done it long ago.
When I was seven I was given the choice of taking either piano or woodworking
lessons. A real no-brainer even for a kid.
To make a couple of extra bucks during the depression an old guy in my hometown
set up a woodworking classroom in his basement where he taught the basics of
using handtools. I got off to a great start, but blew it by not following up
until recently.
Between then and now I worked a variety of jobs: the black gang in the
Merchant Marine; gandy dancing in Alaska; the Navy in which I actually did see
a lot of the world; worked construction in New England; taught at a Mid-Western
university; worked on an oil refinery, a railroad in New Jersey, a national
food company and a big communications outfit, among others.
These jobs paid OK, but they didn't do much for building woodworking skills;
and between work and raising a family there wasn't much time left over.
Retired now, living in the country, raising a few critters, growing apples, hay
and trees, which fortunately grow without much help from me, I can spend some
time on fun stuff.
I'm looking to fill some empty slots in my tool chest, and a whole lot of gaps
in my woodworking skills.
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