Dear Galoots,
If you will allow me to come up out of the basement and to the porch,
I will tell you a little bit about myself.
My name is Andrew Stonina and I live in Minneapolis, MN, for now. I
am graduating in May from North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago,
IL (long story) with a Master of Divinity degree. I am currently in
the hunt to get a church to pastor. I do not have a SWMBO or a GIT,
unless you count the nephews!
I have been involved in woodworking, for a long time. I began with my
dad teaching me when I was in 4-H back in the 80's and 90's. I won a
red ribbon at the MN State Fair with a woodworking project. I then
left woodworking, for a few years until I got into shop class in
middle school and high school. I really enjoyed shop class. It was
the best part of the day, for me. It was with a middle school shop
project that I won that red ribbon for a folding camp stool. I was
bit by the woodturning bug in high school and turned my first pen, I
got that bug too. When I went to college I did not have the option of
shop class or woodworking unless I was on break at home. In seminary
I needed something to do, so I started a small shop in the garage of
where I was living (campus property) and did a lot of my work there
until I moved home in 2005 when I could use our shop. Unfortunately a
lot of tools ended up being stored.
I enjoy making toys for my nephews, turning, and furniture making. I
really enjoy learning new techniques and skill in woodworking and that
brings me to this board.
While I learned some hand tool techniques in high school not really
enough to sustain me, so I became a normite and have several tailed
tools, but I think that there is a place for the tailed and untailed.
Last fall I took a class at the local Woodcraft store with Tom Caspar
who is an editor at American Woodworker magazine on handtools. I
learned to do a lot of things and how to properly tune and use them.
I had started to build a collection of hand tools, all bought off the
'bay. I have some older ones as well that have come in their boxes
with instructions. I suppose the collectors will be mad at me, but
yes I have tuned them and use them. While I am not a purist, I enjoy
working with handtools and feel great satisfaction in using them.
I am here to continue to learn about handtools and their history as
well as to learn how to make some of my own handtools. I think that
there would be nothing more satisfying then making your own tools.
Thanks, for your listening year, now back to the basement!
Andrew Stonina
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