I love tools!   I love everything about them, how they look, how they feel and sound and what  they do.  If I must sand by hand I am an unhappy camper.  I just want a tool to do it fast and efficiently.   Besides, it always does a better job than I could do by hand.

    Let me tell you about my first two tools.   For an unknown reason, back when I was a young lady of about 15, (oh my goodness 45 years ago), I was given a Dremel rotary tool for Christmas, I think from Santa, aka Dad.  I had two brothers but I must admit I was usually his “helper” in the garage.  Well, dressed in my Christmas jammies I put in a bit, (the biggest one a cutting wheel), plugged it in, fired it up, and …dropped it in my lap.  I think I felt the vibration when it came on and thought I was being electrocuted.  It caught in my pajamas and wound until it could wind no more.  It stopped but continued to buzz and I was afraid to move lest it start again.  I was rescued, untwisted and unharmed. 

    My second tool I bought myself.   It was a scroll saw that I watched a man use at the county fair.  I think I was 25 or so.  I was so intrigued at how skillfully he used it.   I absolutely had to have it!  It landed on my kitchen table in my itty bitty apartment and stayed there.  No more cooking for me!!  I made tons of stuff with it.  What a workhorse.  I must admit I abused it.   That poor tool cut 2x4s for me when I started making some bigger things.  It is still alive and still cherished today. 

A  small sample of Carols work with a jigsaw.