Gentle Galoots,

For fear of being the permanent spittoon polisher, here's a preemptive bio.

I'm a newbie, but some twenty years ago I got interested enough to get a few
old Stanley block planes, a neat folding boxwood rule, Ernest Joyce's
encyclopedia of furniture making, and some other arcana which until yesterday I
had forgotten I had. Over those twenty years I've made dozens of pieces of
furniture in my mind.

In the 1950's my father built a fine gateleg table from a hurricane-downed
walnut tree, with the help of a wonderful patternmaker at the Navy engineering
shop in Annapolis. So I knew from an early age where furniture comes from, but
I have to admit I'm short on experience.

I'm an electrical engineer, 52 years old, and my 15 year-old son is taking
woodshop, which is pretty remarkable in Southern California. No funds. There's
an excellent woodworking program at nearby Palomar College, and one of their
graduates is re-constituting the woodshop at the local high school. He's doing
such a good job at motivating the kids that he's getting my juices flowing too.
I had forgotten how much fun this is.

I'm glad to find the porch, and I'll try not to interrupt too much.

Regards,
Stewart