Well, now that Bill L. has outed me...

MJ Isles

Member
Messages
176
Location
Suburban DC (formerly western PA)
... I believe an introduction is in order. Hello, everyone! :wave:

Wood speaks to me in a different way... always has. I love the way it looks and feels, the way it smells. My stepfather was a woodworker in western PA, and my childhood was filled with the whine of saws, the smell of cut wood, and his colorful epithets. ;) And I loved tools. Such a strange girl-child.

My husband also worked in wood professionally. When he was working on projects in the basement, there was that great smell again. I knew he was creating something wonderful... so much so that after we split up, walking through those DYI stores and smelling the cut wood brought me close to tears from the memories.

During those years, I taught painting classes, and my husband cut out all of the wooden forms I used and built me his version of things I'd see while we were out here or there. I was really lucky. :) From his influence, I took my first run at carving/painting wood clear back in 1992-- in fact, still have the first life-sized, primitive Santa I made, and he stands on my porch every year at Christmas. I did a few more, started painting and carving driftwood, then my life took a dramatic change and shifted away to other adventures.

Recently I wandered back in the direction and found this forum while searching for information on drilling and working with bamboo, so I decided to hang around for a while. Now, I'm not a traditional woodworker like you all and your beautiful projects put anything I've created to shame, but I still love the stuff and have drawn inspiration and gathered many helpful hints from this forum. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and creations.

My interest in technology and online community function sometimes gets me into "dutch" as my mom would say, and it's nearly impossible for me to restrain myself from commenting on these threads. By profession, I'm the Web Marketing Director at a large eastern school, and it can be hard to leave work at the office. Don't take me too seriously... I'm just "banging pots" like a kid, for the joy of the noise. ;)

It's also nearly impossible for me to keep from commenting on conversations about dogs. I LOVE dogs, love my three Beagles, rescue dogs, and any dogs that don't try to bite me... or even those who do try to bite me. They all need love too, like people, and when they bark or bite, they're usually just scared, like us.

Thanks for letting me hang out for a while.

--MJ & The Three A'Beagos (Molly, Buzzie and Lady Noodles)
 
Hi MJ, very wellcome, what a nice story you had to tell, oh well, we all love the smell of wood.
 
Thanks for the intro, MJ. I can relate to the smell of fresh-cut wood. Even my wife likes walking through the lumber racks at Lowes. (She likes the end product of my woodworking, but shares no desire to try it herself. Too messy.) :rolleyes:

You may not consider yourself a traditional woodworker, but I figure if you take a piece of wood and change it into something else, you're a woodworker in one form or another.

Oh, and on the dog thing. Not many dog people around here. No ma'am, almost none. Two or three at the most.

Q: What's the fastest way to get a thread to at least 3 pages on FW?
A: Start a "Show Us Your Dog" thread.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
....somebody mention dogs?.....

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Hi MJ, and welcome!
 
Thanks, everyone. :) I will find a photo of the Santa and post. There was a very practical reason as to how he came about, that being I saw one for sale in a catalog, and I wasn't going to pay $500 back in '92-- or even now. So I jumped in there and made one, for better or worse. That's a theme in my life, I guess, in that I like nice things but ideally they serve a practical purpose, too.

I wish you could have seen me using a router for the first time. :rofl: Sealing? Finish? Ha! Nonetheless, Santa's "weathered" the years pretty well, pun intended.

A note on the smell of wood: You're all making important memories for your children and grandchildren. They will carry with them that smell and association, hopefully working in it themselves one day but always, always, they will remember.

--MJ
 
Wood speaks to me in a different way... always has. I love the way it looks and feels, the way it smells.

.... walking through those DYI stores and smelling the cut wood brought me close to tears from the memories.

Nice to add another female to the Congregation!

Just has to comment on these two things you said. You sound like me, I have always loved wood. I wasn't fortunate enough to have a family member that was a wood worker. My dad had skill and I think he could have been quite good judging by the few things he built. But he wasn't interested in it. But I sure was.

As for smell, I have read that smell is tied closer to memories than any other sense. And I believe it. I can not smell fresh cut Western Red Cedar without thinking back to the last house my father had built when I was in my teens. It had some WRC on the outside and that smell brings back memories every time I smell it. I am building a couple of kayak paddles out of WRC now and I LOVE that smell.

Welcome to the Fold MJ. Pick out a pew and enjoy!
 
....somebody mention dogs?.....

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Hi MJ, and welcome!

hmmm, so that's where my new kitchen cabinets are... oh wait, better not let the LOML see these, or I won't get to finish the shop.... UNless I tell her that I have to have the shop to do the cabinets! Thanks Steve!:thumb:


MJ,
You'll fit in just fine. And I agree 110% about the smells of woodoworking bringing fond memories. I cobbled stuff together in my Cousin's shop as a young teenager, and that stayed with me for years, until I finally got into a better shop a few years ago.
 
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