Well, after lurking for the last several months now, I'm finally 
biting the bullet to write the bio. Apologies for not following the rules, 
but it always seemed that in the little time I have/allow for sitting in
front of the computer, it was always more fun to read through the next 100
or so messages than write something about myself. 

	I grew up on a farm in central Tx. (B/CS area for you Texans out 
there). By todays standards, my old man was a master in most trades but 
worked both before and after the farm gig as a carpenter.  He was old
enough that in his early days, it was almost all handtools.  In case you 
folks wonder what happened to all the old saws, I mentioned to my mother 
the other day that I was getting into handtools and she said that she 
remembered dad coming home from work in the early days and sharpening his
handsaws almost every night.  It wasn't till I was much older that I 
learned that handsaws don't all come to a near point at the end.  Growing 
up, we had a decent shop; all the handtools you'd expect plus the corded
kind too (ts, lathe etc.).  There was no particular love for the old tools
except to treat them right and use the right tool for the job.  I think
dad was probably one of the first to own a 'lectric handplane.  (If you're 
hanging doors all day long and you're in your 50's with nine kids at home 
(I'm number eight), you might get one too).  

	I worked as a trim/cabinet carpenter and as a framer during the 
summers through high school and part of college.  Though we built some
nice 'custom' homes, this wasn't high craftwork:  to most of the folks I 
worked with, wood movement was something associated with a settling slab
or not using enough  nails, and handplanes were little tools used for
fixing F****ups even the painters couldn't fix.  I've been into oldtools 
for a while now but only recently with the list and newly aquired
knowledge has it begun to be serious.  Strictly user mode here, I remember 
several years back going out to replace a framing square that flew out the 
back of the truck and finding a new Stanley: aluminized paint flaking off
at the store and not a table on it.  Shook head, muttered something 
unintelligable and found an old one for about a quarter of the price.
Broken needle nose pliers:  new ones at Sears required both hands to open. 
Grumble, grumble, Garage sales and WD-40.  Got a Stanley Handyman miterbox
for a buck, brought it home and huh? it cuts angles in locked-in
increments of 15? No way to cut 22 1/2?  Grumble again and still looking
for a good old one (that'd be a hint, but I'm too cheap to pay the 
postage). Since joining the list, I've been happily de-rusting some nice 
user tools. Carefully with the good stuff (recent auction, 606C Bedrock,
probably type 8 if the Bedrocks follow the other type study--$20); and
electrolyzing the rest: pliers, Pexto pipe wrenches, auger bits etc.  I 
get a kick out of electrolysis since my battery charger is a Sears
Craftsman, using a Crapsman electric apprentice to rescue oldtools has a
pleasant irony for me.

	I went to UT Austin for undergraduate and the UW in Seattle for 
graduate work in Biochemistry.  I got my Phd in 1989 in Seattle did 
post-doc work in Berkeley and San Francisco and recently moved to my
wife's hometown in Eugene, OR with two apprentices in tow:  4 1/2 y.o. boy 
and 2 y. o. girl.  Between work, the kids, searching for and learning to 
use old tools and rehabilitating an older house previously owned by an 
idiot do-it-yourselfer, the days are pretty much full (anybody have a 
great oldtool or technique for removing 8 penny commons from trimwork?).  

	Apologies for the Lamantian bio.  I'll come up on the porch now, 
if there are no objections.  I've got a few questions saved up for the 
more experienced galoots.  

Kenneth Watkins