I resisted doing this in the interests of keeping the
list volume down, but since you asked:

Bio: Carl Muhlhausen aka ledzep

I'm 46 years old and have been woodworking in some 
fashion for about 7 or 8 years. I got pretty
serious about it 2 years ago or so. A lot of my interest
seems to be a rekindling of a love for beautiful
wood that I developed watching my father build gunstocks
when I was a teenager.

I have a PhD in Chemical Physics, but converted
from science to telecommunications systems engineering
about 13 years ago. Been working for AT&T Bell Labs
for 15 years, though sadly will no longer be with
Bell Labs after the split.

My interest in old tools and Neanderthal wwing is relatively
recent and then only as a user not as a collector. I see the
appeal of owing lots of old tools, but I can't rationalize
buying a tool unless I need to use it.

I began making household furniture armed only with a
Skil saw, router and a motley collection of handtools and
measuring tools. Woodworking comes as the latest in a
long list of expensive hobbies ( rockclimbing, bicycling,
hi-fi) so buying tools was low on the priority list.
About 6 years ago I got hooked on hi fidelity music and
streo systems. THe prices on high end stereo stuff make
a Norris infill look like chump change, so I began piecing
together my stereo equipment bit by bit. THis led to me
building my own loudspeakers.

My first one was a formica over particle board subwoofer,
made with the router and Skil saw. I was hooked. I bought a
Sears TS  and turned to Rec.wwing for advice on other
power tools, still under the modern misconception that 
woodworking involves lots of noise and electricity.

After filling up the house with speakers, CD cases, and equipment
racks, I became more interested in woodworking as a hobby
unto itself than as a means to just making useful stuff.
At the same time I started developing my own preferences in terms of
what I enjoyed doing woodworking and what I hated.

I was getting the greatest satisfaction from detail work using
handtools - chisels, planes, scrapers. I loathe sanding by
hand or machine. I fell in love with making dovetails by hand
and began churning out lots of small boxes. I particularly
like working with different types of wood and I'm a
sucker for figured stuff that's hard to work with.

At the same time, I'm no handtool purist. I have Unisaw and
I love it. I like being able to dimension a rough looking
board precisely and quickly, before moving on to the interesting
work. I also do some joinery on the TS (splined miters are
a favorite next to dovetails). My skill level thicknessing
stock with my handplanes wasn't all that hot, so I bought
a Delta planer a few months ago. Feeding boards through this
thing is not my idea of skilled craftsmanship, but it's
really nice to begin with flat, uniformly thick wood.
The other tools I use a lot, actively dislike are my 2 routers.
Noisy, can't see what I'm doing, scary, and screw up a lot.
But I haven't quite figured out how to do what I do with the
router with hand planes. One obstacle is a limited budget
for acquiring many different tools for very specialized tasks
like dadoes, grooves, moldings, etc. 
This is an area for improvement, however.

My current crop of Neandertoys consists of a few new handplanes,
bought before I discovered the old ones. I first bought a 
nice Stanley #7 from PL and was blown away. Since then I've added
a #5, a #12 scraper, a spokeshave, and a wooden fillester from 
him. The latter is the only old tool that doesn't see regular
use. It's in pristine condition and I hate banging (even 
lightly) on the wooden wedge. I'll also confess that I haven't
quite mastered using it and I generally cut rabbets with the
router or TS.

I read the posts on Disstons and hand saws with interest, but
it may be too late for me. Before discovering old tools, I
bought a couple of Japanese saws and fell in love with them.
Despite my attraction to the Unisaw, I reach for the Dozuki
or Ryoba whenever I'm dealing with fussy small pieces.

I began selling some stuff at local crafts fairs this year, 
but I think I'll keep the day job. In what's probably my proudest
woodworking accomplishment, I got accepted into a local arts
festival this spring. This is definitely a step above what passes
for woodworking at the crafts fairs.

This is a hell of a lot longer than I intended, but I'll
lay low for a while I promise.

-- Carl

Carl W. Muhlhausen			ledzep@e...
Rm. 1B-115L		         or	carl.muhlhausen@a...
AT&T Bell Laboratories                  (908)-576-3052
307 Middletown-Lincroft Rd.
Lincroft, NJ 07738