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10887 Paul Houtz <gph@z...> 1996‑12‑16 De-Lurker's Bio
G. Paul Houtz

Born:       Salem, Oregon, 1955 
Parents:    Arthur Houtz, Machinist, and Anne Houtz, Office Manager.
Education:  B.A. Music, Willamette University, 1978
            Master of Music, The San Francisco Conservatory Of Music, 1983

Employed:   Software Design Engineer,
            California Analytical Softwarwe Division,
            Hewlett Packard, Palo Alto, CA

Personal Comments:

I was totally bored with shop class in junior high and stopped taking
them in high school.   I got interested in tools and woodworking when
I decided to build a classical guitar for myself at 17.   I completed
the instrument but then was off to college, so no more woodworking.

My father was an accomplished woodworker, and also machinist/aerospace
worker, auto mechanic, etc.  Tools were very important to him as he 
literally supported his family with them.   He could fix or build
virtually anything, something which really impressed me.

I used to spend time with him in the shop.  He had a wood stove, and
we would spend an hour or so on week-end mornings warming ourselves
before it, and drinking coffee, and talking.   Now that he is gone,
I treasure that time more than almost anything else.

Since Music pays so well (:-), I decided to try computer programming,
and moved into software engineering gradually.

I married and bought a house in 1986, and got back into woodworking
in 1990 when we decided to remodel.  I built all the cabinets for
the new kitchen, and justified buying a lot of good machinery based
on the savings.   I became very interested in woodworking machinery,
probably some of my father's machinist blood got in me.

Now that the big kitchen project is finished, I am doing woodworking
more as a pleasurable escape.  I don't have a deadline to meet, so
I have decided to work with more traditional tools.

I also have to admit to being quite disgusted with the whole power
tool culture.   There is definitely something dishonest about some
of the tools that are coming out, and something wrong with the approach
to this craft that demands a power tool for every operation.

I guess the idiocy of it really hit me when I saw a letter to Fine 
Woodworking showing how to build a router sled to flatten a benchtop.
It would take longer to draw up the plans for the router sled than to
just take a Stanley #6 and do the job.

My new goal is to find out how to make needed furniture using hand tools,
and to test my hypothesis that most power tools are only efficient
in production settings, and that handtools can do necessary and beautiful
work nearly as fast as power tools in one-off projects.    I suspect
that there are a few powertools that are real time savers, or serve
a truly necessary purpose (like the Bandsaw), some that are overkill
for most home projects (like the Shaper), and some that are downright
unecessary for the hobby woodworker (jointer, dovetail jig, 3 HP router,
etc.).  

Finally, I am discovering a new connection to the wood, and feeling
a new pride in developing SKILL instead of equipment inventory.

-gph



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