OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

41079 Bob Russell <russell@c...> 1998‑04‑09 Bio
Im from Gaithersburg, Maryland. Born, raised, and still live there which
 I guess is an accomplishment in and of itself.  I am an electronics engineer
working at NIST and am currently working on my masters in computer
science at Johns Hopkins University.  I am 31, married, have a 2 yr old son
and another son in the project bin which should be finished in June ; ).

Well enough of the non woodworking stuff.

I am fairly new to woodworking.  I have been doing small stuff (Pine
shelves, etc)
for a year or two.  Have a few power (gasp!) tools but am getting tired of the
noise especially since I live in a townhouse.  I first read about
handplanes in
rec.ww and became curious about them.  Not knowing any better, I went out
and spent $20 on a Stanley SB4 or 4SB or something (its the real cheapy with
the two thumbscrews for adjusting the blade depth).  I sharpened it (Scary
style)
and played with it some on some scrap I had and made some shavings and
basically had some fun.  I found some of the websites on planes, learned a
little bit, then played with this plane some more and turned this 2x4 I had
 into a really pretty piece of wood.  I just could believe that a 2x4 could
shine
like that.  It was gorgeous.  Of course after looking around some more I now
realize that it could be even prettier if I got a REAL plane and not this hunk
of junk.  But thats kinda how I got here and I am in sponge mode right now
( absorbing as much info as I can).  And I am looking around to buy my first
new old plane.  It seems like a #5 would be a good choice so hopefully my
SWMBO will see how much joy planing brings me and will allow the purchase.

Bob Russell - galoot wannabe and very envious of the tools most of you have

Bob Russell
Robert.Russell@n...
301-975-3434
Intelligent Systems Division
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory
NIST



Recent Bios FAQ