OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

164476 Micah Salb <ms-ls@l...> 2006‑11‑01 Bio update for Micah Salb
How sad it is for me to see that my wood-working skills have not
advanced very much at all since I last updated my bio!  I posted a bio
in December 1999 and an update is barely needed!

My partner and I live on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C., in a small
rowhouse that we have spent years renovating.  In fact, the renovations
have called heavily on my woodworking skills, like cutting, installing,
and shellacking molding, hanging crown molding, installing flooring,
hanging cabinets, building our nice walnut newel posts, making tons of
bead-board, making radiator covers, and so on.  But, as you can imagine,
all this home renovation work has kept me from the more fun stuff, like
furniture.  It also seems all wasted now.  We have a sixteen month old
daughter (Hannah Rose, aka Mrs. Peanut) who seems steadfastly intent on
destroying everything in the house, or at the very least shmearing
everything with banana. 

Despite Mrs. Peanut, I do venture into the woodshop from time-to-time. 
I am lucky to have a well-equipped kit, though of course never enough. 
I am currently working on a small toychest for Hannah, a basic
dovetailed box.   Chances are, when I next revise this bio, I'll still
be working on the box (though maybe I'll rename it Hannah's Hope Chest
or something).  My skills remain pretty rudimentary though, getting
rustier and rustier as time passes, my memory lapses, my limbs enfeeble,
and my eyesight fails.  Alas, my hopes of retiring to a woodworking
career have evaporated, but that doesn't stop me from continuing to putter.

-Micah

FROM MY BIO FROM DECEMBER 1999:

Having just read my bio for the first time since I wrote it (assuming I
read it when I wrote it), I realized that I'm WAY over-due to update it!
I am no longer a rank know-nothing newbee to woodworking; I'm now just
your basic beginner whose gotten his feet wet. I have a spouse of nine
years, who is very very supportive of my woodworking (including the
purchases). We own a small rowhouse on Capital Hill in Washington (with
two cats). I work pretty close by, down-town, as a lawyer, doing mostly
employment law but also some general civil litigation and non-profit
law. I like my work, but I love woodworking. I've been woodworking for
about three or four years, and I now know enough so that I can actually
do woodworking -- as opposed to spending all my time reading woodworking
books! I also have very slowly built up a decent set of basic tools (ya
know, a jack, a jointer, a few smoothers, a set of chisels, --even three
mortising chisels!--, some braces and a nice set of bits, a router
plane, and so on). But I am still very much a beginner, trying new
things and working on the basics. I did some dovetails for the first
time a few months ago. Each time I do mortises is like new (and it looks
it!). It is rare that I prep a board without learning something new
about planing. But I'm not without some usable knowledge, either. I can
bring a board from rough to fine in a reasonable amount of time. I know
the difference between a rip saw and a cross-cut. I know how to cut a
tenon and make it fit (even if it doesn't always fit quite perfectly).
And my final products usually look pretty good (at least to other
people). Actually, most of my final products, actually, don't stick
around long enough for me to be looking at 'em. Most end up as gifts.
I've been working on a console table for many months now (my largest
project yet), but it keeps getting interrupted by other projects: I've
made a few nice framed mirrors (using a Brennan beader) for gifts. I
made a hanging pot rack. I made a set of cantilevered shelves. So you
can see: I'm at that beginner stage where I've advanced past breadboxes,
but not too far past. Well, hopefully I'll be able to update this bio
again in a year or so, to talk about the bigger projects I've finished
and an approaching mastery of basic joints.

FROM MY BIO FROM SEPTEMBER 1998:
I'm 29 years old, and I live in Washington, D.C., where I'm a lawyer (free
advice strictly limited to nice people), specializing in employee-employer
issues.  I've been woodworking for just a couple of years, specializing in
imperfect projects that take forever to finish .  I am very much a
beginner.  I've JUST started using hand tools, and I'm really enjoying
it.  I
don't shudder in fear every time I "start up" a hand plane!  'Course, I only
have two planes!  I guess that's all the basics, 'cept I've really enjoyed
being part of the WWW-WW community.

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Recent Bios FAQ