Esteemed Galoots, thankou for the warm welcome onto the porch. My
name's Peter and I'm pleased to meet you all. I think I'll be
comfortable enough to sit here for quite a while.
I'm married and have two daughters (15 and 8). For Aussies, I'm from
Lismore in Northern NSW originally and, except for a couple of years in
Canberra (not long enough, we loved it), have lived in Brisbane since 1983.
For a bit of history, my father and his brothers owned a furniture
factory and some outlets but sold that in the mid 1970s when I was about
10. After that he was in the antique trade and did a lot of restoration
work. As kids, we were always around nice old tools and nice old
furniture. I moved from home to go to University and left that all
behind. I now work for IBM and specialise in computer system
performance work, which is really playing with big tools and toys.
Over the years I have built a few things, fixed a few, remodelled a few,
but other priorities have always been in the way of really developing
the skills to do some decent work with wood. I came of age (turned 40)
mid last year and it's time to have some fun.
Through the year Norm was on each Saturday morning - just the right time
to sit over a coffee and watch the show. Norm re-kindled my interest in
tools and wood, but I have no desire for, or convenient/secure storage
for tens of thousands of dollars worth of monster tools. Then I found
'Classic Hand Tools' by Garrett Hack, and memories of fiddling with
drawnives, planes, spokeshaves, and chisels came back from my youth -
ah, a revelation :-)
I have travelled a lot with work, and done a lot of reading (each flight
requires a new book), so I have a collection/library underway. I think
I've also read just about every wood and tool related book in our local
libraries (some more than once and some I wish I hadn't bothered). Now
it's time to put some of that into practice....
First off I need to build myself a workbench. This is a seriously
difficult thing. Having read so many bench related books & magazine
articles and looked at so many sites; I'm now not quite sure what I need
or want. I have read (and read and read) The Workbench Book by Scott
Landis, which is inspiring, but has oh so many options. I'm trying to
work out what I actually need from a bench - maybe I actually need two
benches, hmm, no, maybe three.
The next real jobs I must do are build a tv/entertainment cabinet, then
a library downstairs, then build in my home office. In between, there
will be any number of smaller projects - I'm currently rebuilding the
entry to our cellar/store room and thinking about a sofa table or narrow
hall table.
As LOML knows, each of these tasks will likely require some more
reference books and several new tools added to the non-tailed assortment
which is sorely lacking. Since I have a Stanley #4 1/2, I think I need
a smoother plane like a Stanley #7 or maybe #8 next, and with those, I
might be able to get started on things, though I have been eye-ing a HNT
Gordon Trying Plane for a while. Oh, and I think I'm going to need a
mortice chisel (or 5) and a Brace and set of bits, and .....
One last thing - I also need to finish off my kayak and will make a
cedar strip canoe or two. Canoeing/Kayaking with my older daughter is
the other fun that takes up my spare time - and soon (I hope) the whole
family.
regards to all, and again, many thanks for such a community
Peter Robinson in Brisbane, Australia
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