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11525 Feder <feder2@w...> 1997‑01‑04 Carey's bio (long)
Hello.  My name's Carey.  I've been quietly hanging around
the porch for awhile, taking in the discussions and the ambiance.
Now I've decided that the time has come to do my bio.
	I've worked at at a day care center for many years.  I'm also
a college student, a perpetual one it is beginning to seem (for I've
been at it, off and on, for over 10 years) -- but someday I hope to
get my degree in (I have recently become decisive) early childhood
education.  Maybe someday I could be an art teacher, or a
woodworking teacher.  I feel as though children need instruction
and practice in skills (such as using hand-tools correctly), so that
they will have more freedom to directly explore the way things
work, to aquire the knowlege and the skill to make their ideas into
real objects.  I would like help children learn that they don't need
to rely on pre-fabricated parts, kits, someone else's design and
plans.
	I first got started woodworking about two years ago.  My
cousin from the Czech republic was visiting the USA for a year, and
she and I spent a lot of time together.  She knew how to make
everything.  She wove baskets out of willow branches, ivy, and
honey suckle.  She made a little table out of bamboo.  Together
she and I collected small peices of reed, and bamboo, and we made
made lots of pens (the kind to dip in ink).  Our last and biggest
project was a bench (the kind to sit on., not a work bench).
	Neither one of us was experienced with woodworking, nor
did we have a clear picture of how the finished product would be
put together.  But after doing a little studying from an old book of
my dad's on tools and wood, we bought the some pine boards  and
a few cheap tools from the hardware store, and went to work.
There were numerous crisis when nothing seemed to go right and
there seemed no solution, but somehow we got through them.
The bench is sturdy and comfortable and has shelves under the
armrests where you can put your drink or a book.
	The next big milestone in my woodworking career was
when the day-care (where I work) was preparing to move into a
new, modern building.  Since they planned to buy clean,new toys
all the old stuff was going to be gotten rid of.  Some was given
away, but many things -- like all the blocks--were going to be
_thrown_ away.
	Needless to say, I made quite a few car trips back and forth
bringing loads of blocks to my house.
	The blocks are dirty and written on (saying things like:
"KEEP OUT!" and "ghostbusters" and "no grils [girls] allowed!" but
under the suface is good, hard maple.
	Before my cousin left the country, she and I picked up some
oak pallets--with boards suitable for the top of a workbench--and
then after she left I busied myself with building a workbench -- out
of my day care blocks and the pieces of oak.  It was an almost
impossibly frustrating ordeal that lasted months, but, aside from
ending up with a good workbench, it did teach me that it would be
necessary to learn to sharpen (I had never tried, thinking it was
beyond me) -- and it tipped me off that, tool-wise, there could be
something wrong (that hardware store kind of tools were not the
best.)
	Since then, I've become more sophisticated about tools
(prefering old and interesting ones) and I'm coming to terms with
sharpening.  Ive also spent hours and days flattening the backs of
chisels and plane irons, and puzzling over the meaning of "flat."
	I'm sure glad I've found the oldtools group!  Sorry this bio
ended up being so long.

		-Carey.



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