Commendation!!!

Paul,

Just wanted to drop you a line and share a success with you.

I met you at the Baltimore Woodworking Show in January and was captivated by the things you could do with hand tools. I bought your book and DVD set that day at the show. I also signed up for and attended your 3-Day Foundational 1 class and attended on April 20th through teh 23rd. I have to say it really changed my life and built a real passion for woodworking in me.

After attending your class, it took me about a month to get my tools together, setup a bench and a work area. SInce then I have practiced my new skills by building six more of the candle boxes you taught us how to build in the class. It has been great fun and I find myself getting better and faster with each box I build.

Now for the success.

I entered one of the boxes I built at home into our County Fair this past month. I was honored and shocked to have won First Place in the Woodworking Box/Case division. The judges had also taken the time to write "Beautiful" on my entry tag.

When I picked up my box from the fair this past weekend I happened to meet one of the judges for the division. She told me that my box would have won Champion of the whole Woodworking Division if i had included a set of plans with my entry. That was a stipulation that I didn't know of until I was actually there entering the box. Although I would have liked to have won the Champion ribbon, it is still nice to know they thought enough of my work that it would have won.

So, thank you for passing on your knowledge and helping me build the skills necessary to realize this small personal success. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. I sincerely hope that I can figure out a way to attend more of your classes and continue to build my skills.

Oh, in case you would like to see, I am attaching a picture of my "prize winning box".:-)

Thanks again!

Dave Stine