Hi all,
        I'm a short-term lurker from eastern Massachusetts (Westport--on the
coast at the Rhode Island line) and have activated a nascent interest in
woodworking over the last year or two.  58 years old, three mostly grown
kids, cardiovascular disease, marine biologist by trade, and numerous past
hobbies and interests (writing, running, beekeeping, trombone playing,
raising sporting pigs, etc), all of which have faded in the face this
fascination with wood and the challenge of crafting quality furniture from it.

        In putting together my shop, I've relied on purchasing used hand
tools at country auctions (Mass & central Maine where I have a camp and
woodlot) and flea markets.  Having tuned up my hand planes (#4, 5, 7, and
block) as per instructions on this list, I'm increasingly impressed with the
results I can get.  Since I cut trees at my place in Maine and haul them to
a local sawyer, I've tended to purchase log handling tools (peaveys, cants,
log hooks, etc) at Maine auctions where these things seems to be abundant
and cheap.  I also put aside old tools (wooden planes, froe, levels, etc)
bought at some Connecticut auctions 30 years ago.  I guess I should dig
these things out and see what I have.  But, for the time being, I'm a user.

        I have a throwback daughter who teaches Latin and Greek for a
living, and who delights in dragging her old man to the Fine Arts Museum in
Boston whenever she comes for a visit.  I've learned to go my own way there,
and spend a lot of hours looking at their collection of early American
furniture (Townsend & Goddard and those guys), marveling at the joinery,
carving and decorative inlay in that furniture.  I also enjoy prowling high
end antique shops when away on business trips for the same purpose.
Relative to a recent oldtools thread, last summer I overheard a New Orleans
antique sales person extolling a desk to a potential customer (the asking
price was several thousand dollars), saying, "you can tell the dovetails are
hand cut when you see scribe lines" (these dovetails were obviously machine
made).  The craftsman may not have been unethical, but the sales agent sure
seemed that way to me.

        Also, relevant to another recent thread thread here, there is a
current exhibition at the aforesaid museum featuring "modern" furniture
(mainly chairs).  The show begins with examples of chairs made in the
Cotswald area of England in the early 1900s where the emphasis was on
producing quality furniture that would be affordable to the "masses".
Cheap, good furniture--mainly made of oak--which was turned out in that area
to the tune of as many as 21,000 chairs per week!  Today, they're museum pieces.

        Well, I just wanted to introduce myself and say how much I enjoy
listening to you galoots sharing your knowledge, wisdom, and humor with the
rest of us.  Elevation to galoot status seems too daunting for me.  You guys
have the bar set pretty high!
        
        Sandy
Sanford Moss
Biology Department
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth