On Sat, 13 Mar 1999 07:06:29 -0500, Debbie wrote: Anne- I built my first boat, a cedar strip Wee Lassie, from a boat written by Mac McCarthy. I had no wood working experience. Being female, I was never given the option of "shop" class when young. I had to reread the book many times to figure out some of it and I also called Mac a couple of times. I loved it! With every step accomplished, I learned a lot. I still can't believe that I built something so cool. Now I'm building a sea kayak. Bottom line: Go For It! Debbie Reeves Sandy Hook, NJ ............... Debbie, et al: I've been teaching adult, non-vocational woodworking, as a part-time instructor for the last 16 years (weekend and evening courses, after my regular day/week as a senior medical adjudicator for the government). By and large, the best students are the women (about half the students are). They listen to instructions, such as don't use the rip fence for cross-cutting. The older men just shrug shoulders, and go on acting dangerously, not using push sticks, etc, as they "know what they are doing". The men do get hurt from time to time. The ladies on the courses follow a plan three times as easily as the men, taking their time to interpret, correlate with the s2s wood, and execute correctly. The men rarely read the instuctions. The women exibit patience and finess when it comes to sanding and finish, while the men are thinking of their next project before the first one even finished. Hope I'm not coming across as patronizing, but the ladies win hands-down - or is that hands on? Just because our culture programs (or used to when I was in school) the female gender toward other pursuits in school, doesn't mean they are any less the better woodworkers. Are men better woodworkers? Yes, only because there are so few women woodworkers around. I guess you could say the women "are lost in the woodwork" :-) Keep up the great work, Deb. Women make better paddlers too. No macho silliness. Lot's of common sense. Good preparation skills. Fun company during miserable weather. (I'm glad most of my male paddling friends don't read PaddleWise, that way I can still pretend with them, than men are the best!) Doug Lloyd Victoria BC Canada *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Mar 13 1999 - 22:29:29 PST
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