(I'm writing this from a hotel room in LaGrange, Texas, where they've
sent me for another 3-1/2 week stay. Only upside is, I will be here
when "antique week" takes place in the Warrenton - Round Top
area. It's touted as 2500+ dealers & several shows in just a few
square miles. Do any of the Texas galoots have any experience with
this show? I'd be interested in any hints on where a bottom-feeder
might have good luck. Otherwise, I'll just start at the first show
I run into on hwy 159 and move on from there. Email me, above
address, maybe we can meet for breakfast if any of y'all plan on
showing up. More info on the shows at
http://www.roundtop.com/antique1.htm   )

Good Galoots --

I have to thank you all for providing me with some of the most useful
and entertaining resources I've found, through this list and all of
your webpages. I find a certain Usenet newsgroup noisy and unfriendly
in comparison....

I'm a novice. Except for some crappy shelves I made a few years ago
from discarded packing crate wood, I haven't actually built anything
since
high school wood shop, although I've been reading and collecting books
about woodworking and luthierie for the last twenty years. Crappy jobs
(long hours AND low pay) and other commitments had prevented me from
starting any projects until recently.

I went to school to learn to be a metallurgist. Jobs in that field
weren't
available when I graduated in the early 80's with most of my prospective
employers scaling back or even closing, faced with a slow economy
and fierce competition. I've since re-trained as an electrical controls
designer/PLC programmer and forgot most of what I ever knew about
materials science.

My job is okay, but it isn't exactly a great source of joy in my life,
I'm
sad to say. Especially when compared to SWMBO Kelly, 6 year old SWMBette
Nichole,  2.5 yo HWMBambino(?) Nathan, and baby-to-be-named-in-April.

When we finally left apartment life behind my interests in wood and
tools
and gardening became manias. Meeting Duke of URLs Keith Bohn didn't
help.
He's been teaching me how to rust hunt. SWMBO is encouraging my hobbies
to a certain extent. I'm growing her roses and fresh veggies. (although
food makes her nauseous these days...) And, my first project is gonna
be a BH&G Wood mag home entertainment center thing. Yeah, it's made
outta pl*w**d, but it's a step up from the Sauder fiberboard-and-vinyl
crap
we'd otherwise get. I figure my skills and taste will grow from there.
Second project, a workbench. Third, probably gonna be a spool cabinet
end table thing I found in an old Woodsmith, after figuring out how to
substitute solid wood for the plycrap. And way down the line, 6- and 12-
string guitars and an F-5 mandolin. I also have this idea for carving
this
really cute hillbilly duck-with-santa-claus-costume thing. ;-)

When I first started reading about this stuff I liked the look of
mission
style furniture, and thought that was what I wanted to build. Then it
became a yuppie fad and I can't help thinking it would look dated. What
I really like is a sort of late 19th century vernacular look, for lack
of anything better to call it. Things like roll top desks and old shelf-
and-drawer things like you used to find in corner grocers and
drugstores.
Basically anything old, nice, and not too trendy.

I tested out as an INTP like a few others here. Had the exact same first
thoughts each of them had when I took the test. Second thought: "Thank
God
I didn't end up in the Ayn Rand Group..."

The above address is my email account through my employer (we make
retorts
for sterilizing food & beverages in containers, we don't sell stocks or
other
securities.) My personal account is cdotto@e... Answers to your
FS
posts might come from either address. (And, after that last paragraph, I
expect I'll be getting hate mail from angry objectivists (Ayn Rand
cultists, Jeff) in both mailboxes. Oh well.

Best Regards,
Chris Otto