Re: ***SURVEY: THE IDES OF JANUARY ***
Doug in Denver
>Unlike many, I have no family tradition of woodworking, or even use of tools. My father had a cheap electrilc drill and a couple screwdrivers, but that's about it. He did not know how to fix anything beyond a loose doorknob, and really didn't care to. I am one of 6 children, and I am fairly confindent that none of the others owns so much as a jig saw.
So I cannot point to any influence whatsoever. When I was a kid I was the kind who liked to take things apart. When I was in my 20s, I restored a couple old cars, and taught myself how to weld and paint. I also am self taught on how to do all the mechanical work on cars.
After I was married and out of college, I bought an old house and started restoring it. I learned how to do plumbing and wiring and everything else that goes with it. Par of that is making or installing new woodowrk in places. So I began to aquire wooodworking tools.
Though I cannot indentify an influence that sent me down this path, I can identify some reasons. I did these things myself because: (1) I like doing them, (2) a belief I was saving a ton of money, true or not, and (3) the belief that I could do them beter than someone I hired, both because it was my house, so I actually cared, and I didn't need to be anywhere else to make my next buck.
Once done with the house, I needed to start filling it with furniture, so I started woodowrking, and started buying more serious tools. So it has been a natural progression from taking apart toasters as a kid, with no identifiable beginning or cause.
As for the kind of woodworking I do, I'm a stubborn traditionalist. Of the modern style movements (art, architechture, etc), I like modern furniture best, mostly because I have a view that there is no such thing as ugly wood. But I don't like it well enough to build it or own it. I'm the sort who wants wood on my car dash, not brushed aluminum.
