Well, I'll jump in here.
My Dad, Doug Ablett, he was an electrician, who took a government job as an electrical inspector, he also taught code classes for about 25 years, to the guys who wanted to become contractors. My Dad would tackle just about anything, and my mother was always there holding the other end of the board. When I was about 5, I very much remember we had a wall between the dinning room and the living room, one Sunday morning Dad, my older brother and I went to the lumber yard, we picked up a nice 2x12 and some nice 2x6s, and some stain and nails etc.
We came home and my Dad laid out the hole on the wall he was going to cut, got out his trusty Skill saw (he still has it, I think) and cut along the lines and pushed the hole out of the wall, I was just amazed!!!! He put the 2x12 on the bottom, kind of a bar, and the 2x6 on the sides, nailed them, puttied them and then stained them, now we could sit in the dining room and see the living room (you know, where the TV was
).
That was a pivotal point in my young life, as I then understood that if you don't like the surroundings, change them!
I've been doing that ever since!
Next would be my maternal Grand father, Ross Loyst, he passed before I could learn a lot from him, but he did teach me a few important things, "Why is there always enough time to do it right the SECOND time" was one he hammered into my young skull full of mush. He was a skilled self taught craftsman.
Next would be my Uncle Mel Loyst. He was my second Dad growing up, I was always up at his place, with my cousins Dan and Jim, riding dirt bikes, and snow machines, hunting and fishing and working. We cut a lot of firewood, and Uncle Mel taught me how to work, how to work so darn hard your bone hurt and how to take pride in that. If you know how to work hard and be proud of your work, you will never go hungry. He taught me how to safely use a chainsaw, and how to keep it sharp. He taught me how to deal with many work related problems, if you screwed up (and as a kid, I did that a lot) he got mad at you once, told you what you did wrong, how to fix it, how to not do it again, and then he N-E-V-E-R mentioned it again (unless you did it again).
Next would be old CJ Herbert over at TWW, I've known John online since 1996, when we met on the old forum, the Oak, Kip's place. CJ has his own opinions on stuff, but he does what works for him, and he does some amazing work, for sure.
I missed the TV woodworker thing, so while I know who "Norm" is I think I've only seen one or two of his shows. I did get to see a number of Roy Underhill's shows, that guy is amazing.
Otherwise, there are a lot of very kind and helpful skilled people here and at other places that have helped me a lot!
Cheers!
PS Donald, don't do much "Work" as I'm still building my workshop and or tools
