OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

168140 "Andrew Stonina" <andrewstonina@g...> 2007‑03‑05 Andrew Stonina Bio.
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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Recent Bios FAQ