David Barnett
"I guess I caught the bug -- not from experience -- but from hanging out here."

Happens.

I guess I'm lucky I took up woodworking pre-WWW, and had formed most of my opinions, preferences and methods from books, magazines and some very fine teachers. I've learned a lot since then, of course, but I'd already gained sufficient design and woodworking exposure to not become irreparably befuddled.

All my major tool purchases, power and hand, were actually from brick-and-mortars, catalogs, ads and used tool vendors. As I alluded in my previous post, my tool acquisitions exploded when I got to see all those pretty tools and order them online, but that's well under control these last few years. For woodworking tools, anyway.