Hello All, (way too long)
Bob Entwisle in NJ
>I have boldly posted once or twice in the past, without having properly (or otherwise) introduced myself.
Please accept my humble apologies for my bad manners.
I have been 'lurking' at Woodcentral since around 1999. (Entwisle men can sit together in a room for hours (maybe days) and not say a word! (You can ask my wife!)).
I have also been hanging around the on the Sunday night chat as �Bob in NJ� for a few months. I also had the great good pleasure of meeting Ellis at the Ft.Washington, PA WW show in Dec 2005.
Anyway, for a living, I'm involved in electronic engineering, product development, etc; I am currently involved in instrumentation for critical power applications.
Around 1998, the woodworking bug bit, and continues to develop into an �all spare time� consuming passion. I think it�s Woodcentrals fault (that�s my story, and I�m sticking with it!)
My 'shop' is about 2/3 (Jackie, my lovely wife of 16+ years) insists on having a car in there, (lucky for me it�s a small car, thus my 2/3 figure), of a two car garage.
I've collected a few machines over the last few years in order to better destroy perfectly good wood. Many of the usual suspects, table saw, jointer, lunchbox-planer, band saw, bench top drill press, and most every portable power tool in one form or another. I�m also not averse to hand tools, (several years ago I was inclined to believe (and I still believe) that ones life is not complete without having hand-cut a couple of dovetails, or chopped a few mortises). I managed to do those things on a couple of projects, and along that path managed to sharpen a few hand plane and chisel blades, though I am still extremely perplexed over the sharpening process. My guess at this point on that subject is that I should stop fretting about it and sharpen a tool, use it, and if it feels right, then I�ve probably sharpened it properly. (Sharp tools do what they�re supposed to, dull tools don�t)!
One of the most useful 'tools' which I acquired late last year, might not be on the �standard tool list�, it is a Chiminea, this �tool� allows me to eliminate useless clutter that has been accumulating since 1998. I don't quite understand why I could not simply throw out �precious� scraps of wood, but I just saved them (hey they might come in handy�not..). Somehow I do seem to be able to burn them, I can sit out back in the early evening (with appropriate adult beverage (COLD BEER)) and watch my feeble woodworking trials and attempts turn to ash without the slightest regret. Must be some subliminal instinct to �destroy the evidence�?
At the moment I tend to focus on the process involved in cutting various joints and so forth, I�m also trying to develop a little design sense. I tend to build things �too big� which in most cases turns out to be wrong. I think it�s because I�m tall, so I make everything to the height that I�m comfortable with? Who knows?
I apologize for this unbearably long post, but I�ve been reading all of your posts and learning so much here for so long, that I just want to say
Thank you all, and especially thank you to Ellis for running Wood Central.
Bob
