Greetings Galoots!

Name's Dick Daigle and I live in the small central Massachusetts town of

Holden, just north of Worcester. I'm just about to hit that magic age of
40 
and am lucky to be married to my wife Karin, a gal who can swing a
hammer
and spread plaster better'n any man I know. Cranking out software for
the 
CLARiiON group at Data General pays the bills, and I wile away all my
lunch 
hours perusing this newsgroup. 

I've been building colonial reproductions for about 10 years or so,
step-back
cupboards, tavern and trestle tables, and the like for home use and for
gifts.
Even sold some! Also have tried my hand at post 'n beam work. I've
helped build 
3 houses for friends, a small barn for myself, and a 36x28 barn for my
father-in
-law. It was chopping and cutting all those mortise and tenons that
really got 
me turned on to finding and using handtools. Luckily, here in central
Mass. it's
tool nirvana. I've yet to have a weekend go by where I don't pick up a
fine
old tool at either a tag sale or some antique shop for cheap money. I
confess
to having p*w*r shop tools, but they all pre-date 1955, so don't count
them 
against me!!

My current woodworking projects are to finish restoring our 1745
Cape-style
house and adding on the 1760 gambrel that I dismantled during a sun and
fun
filled 16 (yes, sixteen) days this past July. That's a story in itself!!
Spent 
the last couple of nights hewing two new oak gunstock posts needed to
complete 
the gambrel frame so we can raise it before winter settles in. 

Posted my first note here a few days ago after *years* of lurking. First
on Digital Equipment's Woodworking_and_Tools notesfile (remember that,
Patrick?),
on to rec.woodworking, and finally this group. I'm home! 

Wish lists: Learn how to build cedar strip canoes.
                Take a Windsor chair class with Mike Dunbar.
                Learn the fine art of blacksmithing.  

That's me in a nutshell. Thanks for all the info I've gleaned so far and
I hope
that I'll be able to share some in return. 

Best regards,  ~Dick D.

> Wish lists: Learn how to build cedar strip canoes.
>                 Take a Windsor chair class with Mike Dunbar.
>                 Learn the fine art of blacksmithing.  
> 
> That's me in a nutshell. Thanks for all the info I've gleaned so far and
> I hope
> that I'll be able to share some in return. 
> 
> Best regards,  ~Dick D.
> 
Welcome to the support group from Hell!  Rob Stevens in Canada can fill
you in on a canoe place in the Adirondacks, I've had 2 of Mike's classes
and will gladly not only answer questions but point you to the tool list 
on John Gunterman's home page, and there are a couple resident blacksmiths
and several of us dabbling, including myself...

Pull up a chair and have some hot cider!

Esther eoh@k...

Dick Daigle wrote;
snip happens
> Wish lists: Learn how to build cedar strip canoes.
>                 Take a Windsor chair class with Mike Dunbar.
>                 Learn the fine art of blacksmithing.

And Esther chimed in more shameless promotion of myself and others.
And since her last post recognized that I don't post often, but that,
"when I do,.."

Ted Mohrs, a "master" of canoe-building, can be found via the Canadian
Canoe Museum site where Ted has his Bear Mountain Canoe shop set up
indefinitely; see http://www.ptbo.igs.net/~bearmountain/

You'll also find the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association site
enlightening. It's at; http://www.wcha.org/toc.html
If you're at all interested in paddle-carving -see the various related
postings in their "Tidbits" section -including one by me.

I've also slipped down the blacksmithing slope, but will leave it to you
to find the URLs of relevant sites such as the Junkyard Dog discussion
group, Elektric Anvil, ArtMetal Project, etc. The slickness of this
particular slope see me glissading towards casting -of manganese-bronze
plane bodies. Hey, maybe I'll even try some spokeshaves.

Welcome to the porch Dick. Pull up a chair and make yourself comfy.
Rob

While blowing through a digest at hyperspeed I noticed:

Dick Daigle wrote;
snip happens
> Wish lists: Learn how to build cedar strip canoes.
>                 Take a Windsor chair class with Mike Dunbar.
>                 Learn the fine art of blacksmithing.

Gotta stop laying on the page down key on FMM - no money and
no time to play....  bummer.

Well,  if you can do a stippper canoe without backsliding to the
dark side you are a far better galoot than I.  But then mine needs
2 more coats of resin in and out and the trim work with that 20'
(yes that is right) piece of ash that is sitting next to it.  I
have a stripper - neener neener!

I am planning on building a Windsor or two this winter with Esther
using the tools that I made in blacksmithing class.  I picked up 
200 pounds of coal this weekend (EH drop me a note if you want to
try some).  The coal goes real well with the anvil mounted on the
I beam that is infilled with oak.

This is a very slippery slope that you are heading down.  Are
you sure that you are ready for the road rash?

Dave
If it doesn't rain this weekend I am making staples for the anvil.