Greetings from Nebraska. I've always been a do-it-yourself kind of guy. I think it came from my father and a big yellow do-it-yourself book from Reader's Digest that he gave me when I was in my teens. I did some computer programming and taught some electronics courses at an extension campus of the University of South Dakota, formerly known as Southern State Teacher's College. Then I went to work for Dale Electronics, Vishay Dale, Vishay for 37 years as an engineer, manager, and director. We designed and built about 90% of the manufacturing equipment for Vishay in-house in my department or in a department I managed. That's were I learned a lot about machine design, metal fabrication, electroplating, and a whole host of other engineering related disciplines. I've built decks, furniture, cabinets, toys, pens, and all other sorts of wood stuff over the years, but always as a DIY project, a repair project, or just as a hobby.
Thanks for posing the question. It has been very enjoyable reading everybody's responses.
Regards,
Dave