Hi Steve,

Welcome.

> 
> Hi,
> 
> 	My name is Steve York, and I have been lurking for a while, and I 
> thought that I should introduce myself. I am a novice woodworker, finding
> out how I want to go about woodworking. I started out by reading rec.norm,
> and went and took a night class in woodworking offered by my local adult
> education system. 
> 
> 	I found that:
> 
> 	a) most people in this class use only power tools,
> 	b) my ears are offended by these big monstrous machines.
> 
> I talked to at least 3 amatuer woodworkers who work at my company, and they 
> told me I would not be able to build anything decent without t*bles*ws and
> other electical devices. 

I would be surprised if any of them even own a handsaw.

> Since I am only going to build wooden items as a hobby, I did not see why
> I have to dump all that money into big power tools. After all, people were
> building nice furniture before we all had electicity. 
> 
> My woodworking instructor, after I asked about hand tools, told me he used to
> work solely with hand tools in his younger days. He told me that with
> practice, and patience, I could indeed build nice pieces of furniture without

Sounds like ypur instructor is a smart guy, the key is 'patience and practice'

> all the big machinery. He feels the big power tools are really for
> production work. I was starting to get discouraged until then...  

Right again, big p*w*r t**ls are for production work.

> So here I am, having thrown out my plans for buying power tools and trying
> to figure out what tools to buy and how to use them. I already have a number
> of handsaws and backsaws, brace, and level from my fathers garage. I also

Get the saws sharpened, they are probably dull.

> have a 10$ Sargant jack plane my FIL found for me at a flea market.

The October American Woodworker has an excellent article on tuning old
planes.  I would recommend a smoothing plane (Stanley 3 or 4) and a block
plane.  Buy old ones (they work better).  You can look for them at flea
markets but I would recommend getting at least one from a dealer.  If you
ask them they will set it up for you and sharpen the blade (they might
charge a fee).  I would recommend you do this at least once so that you
know what a properly tuned plane is like.

> I bought Leonard Lee's book on sharpening, and sharpened several chisels
> and my plane blade. Now I am trying to learn how to use the plane. I suspect
> it will take me quite a while, but it is much more pleasant to use than
> a big power planer. Do people really like 'Restoring, Tuning amd Using
> Classis Woodworking Tools" by Michael Dunbar, and 'Hand Tools, their ways 
> and workings" by Aldren A. Watson? They seem like they might be good places 
> to start. 

So far, you've made good choices.  I would recommend you add "Tage Frid Teaches
Woodworking" (ISBN 1-56158-068-6) to your list. 
> I also picked up the "Workbench Book" by Scott Landis. I am trying to
> modify a 30 year old garage wall bench for woodworking. It
> is very solidly made, but the top is 2X8 Doug Fir, and I think is not
> thick enough. Also, it has knots in it, so it might be hard to flatten
> with a jointer plane. But I could remove the top and replace it with a 
> maple top I make myself. The supports are very solid 4 X 6 beams.

If you have the space, make a new one from scratch.  It'll give you a good
opertunity to practice some joinery, and you can always use a second bench.

> 
> Thanks to Patrick Leach and Erv Shaffer for kindly answering dumb questions 
> about planes and handsaws.
> 
> See ya!
> 
> 	Steve York

Jake Spiller
spiller@b...

I'm just a user.  I don't have time to collect.

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