Hi,
I've been lurking here for a quite a while, feasted at the FMM trough
had my all questions graciously answered, and benefited vastly from
the porch's pool of knowledge. Guess I better remember my manners and
introduce myself before Mom comes back from cutting a new switch.
My name is Bill Backstrom. I live in Eden Prairie MN, a suburb of
Minneapolis and St. Paul. I haven't run into any of the galoots in the
area, but I think I saw Aaron (TAAK) a few weeks ago lugging a #8
around Beau's tool swap.
I'm 37, and married to a wonderful SWMBO who encourages my vices and
finds tools for me. No GITs yet, but we share the house with three
knuckle-headed, pure hearted dogs who can't understand why anyone
would care about tools when you could be rolling on the floor with
them. I work as a software engineer for StorageTek designing network
accessable storage systems when the oldtools list is down.
I got a late start on wood working and promptly messed up by wasting a
bunch of money on power tools. I got curious about hand tool methods
when winter came and the garage got real cold and filled with salty,
dripping wet cars. Wonder why I didn't see that coming? I now have a
basement shop that is roomy enough for a bench, a workmutt, some
storage and a small Inca b*nds*w that I bought before the scales fell
from my eyes. The table saw still sits in the garage and gets used
once in a while when I need to do something that warrants cleaning all
the junk off the top of it, which isn't very often. I also have to
confess that it scares the pee out of me.
Haven't made much yet except for a torsion box workbench from a design
by Tom Caspar. Not very pretty, but it meets all my needs so far. Been
accumulating tools for about a year or so, and should have enough to
build something any time now, maybe. I'm currently taking a class
where we are building a simple single drawer desk from salvage lumber
that has been sitting at the bottom of the St. Croix river for the
last century. Everything is being done with hand tools from stock
preparation to joinery. Except for the fact that my top is kind of
thin, things are going pretty well.
I guess that's about it. Nice to meet everyone. Was that okay Mom?
---
Bill Backstrom, StorageTek - Network Systems Group.
"Bill Gates is only a white persian cat and a monocle away from being the
villain in a James Bond movie." --Dennis Miller
Replies Author Date
35738 BIO Frank A. Auge Tue 9/8/1998
35760 Re: BIO Jack Kamishlian Tue 9/8/1998
35868 BIO Mike Stevans Thu 9/10/1998
35874 Re: BIO SWSCPA@a... Thu 9/10/1998
36202 BIO Tom O'Neil Mon 9/14/1998
37487 BIO Jim Tremain Mon 10/5/1998
37488 Re: BIO Ed_Balko@E... Mon 10/5/1998
37553 Re: BIO Jim Tremain Tue 10/6/1998
37501 Re: BIO Bill Clouser Mon 10/5/1998
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