Introduction - Why Woodpusher?

Until recently, I never had a hobby that I felt was worth discussing in a forum where others could see. In the last several months, however, I have taken up woodturning, and when I realized how much I had learned, and how far I still have to go, I decided to document my experiences on the off chance that someone might want to come along for the ride. I am sure that many of my mistakes would not be made by those who are familiar with power tools (don't worry - all of my limbs and extremities are still attached and in good shape), but maybe there are some people out there who, like me, enjoy working with wood and want to create with it, but (at the start) have no clue what they are doing.

When I think back on the hobbies that I have liked the most through the years, I realize that wood plays a rather large part. The term "woodpusher" is generally a chess term, and I have been playing chess for about 25 years, give or take. I have been fairly successful, in the sense that I generally win more than I lose, and I enjoy teaching chess to others, but to create a blog about chess would have several drawbacks. For example - chess is the second most popular use of the Internet, so there are MANY sites and blogs and discussions and such that can help you get better at the game or find resources about it. A second problem is that, in order to truly relate my chess experiences, I would have a lot to say about the past and not much to say about the present. My last tournament was over 4 years ago, and while I played tournaments for about 20 years, I am pretty much done with that now. I mainly play online for fun, but there is not much to blog about that. I wanted to pick something where I have a little bit of a history, but am mostly posting about things I am doing at the time. That being said, any current chess news of mine may find its way in here from time to time.

My other wood-related hobby is pool. There was a period of about 2 1/2 years in the mid-1990s when I gave up chess - just woke up one day and decided I did not want to play any more. I started to shoot pool instead. I got hooked when I realized that there was strategy and planning in pool - it is not just the ability to make the shots, but the ability to set yourself up for the next shot (or set your opponent up to miss). Again, though, my days of shooting pool regularly are in the past. I will occasionally pick up a cue and play in a tournament - even won a handicapped 9-ball tournament a few months ago - but the cigarette smoking and the price of an hour of pool in most places has discouraged me.

So, we come to woodturning. Moneywise, it dwarfs chess and pool in terms of startup costs, so perhaps the cigarette smoke was more to blame than the cost when I decided not to shoot pool any more. If they vote to ban smoking in bars and restaurants in New Hampshire, then I might get back to the pool table.

Next: Getting hooked