: I´m living in a small town named Falun in Sweden. Situated 230 km NW from
: Stockholm. Wife, two children and two cats in an old big house.

I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 90 some odd miles north of Chicago, Illinios, wife, two children, old house (not too big) no pets.

: Are you a professional boat maker?
: No, this kayakbuilding became an obsession during my first kayak. This is
: what I really want to do but I have to take my part in the household
: economy too, so I must go to work as well. Since -96 I´m working as
: technician for the Inst. of nature-sciences, mathematics and technic
: (teachers education)at Dala university.

You know, I feel the same way, I'd rather make boats than anything else. Still, contributing to the family income is definately a priority. Haven't been able to do too much of that lately, I'm a TV/Film Production Specialist by trade, but the people who cut my checks have "streamlined the production process", and I've been going with out. My kids are still young and our family budget has been maintaining a balance without the child care costs that we would need to pay if I had more regular hours.

: Do you teach boat building?
: After I had built the first six kayaks

What? The first "six"??? 'Been at it a long time, or just not sleeping?

the interest for these wooden kayaks
: had grown so much among my fellow paddlers and other so I took on a
: studycircle last winter. I guided eight other builders at the circle and
: helped/mentored three other who built thier kayaks at home. During the
: circle we were covered by the press and television several times. At the
: mass launching TV made a five minutes item. So now I have about thirty
: more interested in joining a studycircle.

Good idea. By the looks of the photographs on your website, you did an excellent job...all of you.

: Three of my kayaks has been sold, my two children has got one each and at the
: moment I´m building one for my wife. I have my workshop downstairs, so I
: can go down and do some hours when the rest of the family has gone to bed.

My shop is at my Mom's across town. It's kind of a truck (15-20 minutes by car) to get there, but I bring my kids over every once in a while, and the intergenerational interaction is invaluable...and though my Mom is not so old that she needs serious looking after, I think having me knock around in her garage on a regular basis brings her a sense of security...and for me, I'm glad to be hanging out with her regularly as well, time fly's too fast, you know.

: Yes, thats right. But only under "Studycircle 1". The names under
: the kayaks on the first subsite is the constructor or the present owner.
: I´ll make that more clear.
: "western" red cedar...(although it might be called something more
: European....like Siberian White Cedar....or Finnish Pine....).
: The most common tree here in Scandinavia is the Nordic spruce "Picaes
: albae". It delivers a very fine wood for boatbuilding. Even the
: vikings used spruce in their longships. It´s very longfibered, lightweight
: and elastic, semihard and nontoxic.

The Nordic Spruce "Picaes albae" looks good built as your (and your fellows in the study circle) boats. A bit lighter in color, but great for putting in the darker accent strips...(the bow of the Shooting Star in one of the pictures on your site).

The strips I use are 4,5x19 mm b´n´c.

Sorry, we're stuck on the English system here....unless you happen to be in Science or Engineering, or international business...no need for a Video guy to get to understand metric measurements unless the socket doesn't fit the nut or bolt, or if I happen to be traveling...haven't done too much of that in Europe though...

: any ethnic sensitivities...sort of like calling a Scottsman, English...or
: a Finlander, Swedish...or a Puerto Rican, Mexican...and no offense to
: anyone else who might be of any of the above mentioned ethnicities. Just
: Grooving on the international interaction is all....y'all.
: Bill
: I take no offense and I like to listen and talk to all nationalities. There
: is so much to learn about everything.

Good! I totally agree with you, so much to learn about everything...

: Am just now watching the moon going into the earths shadow. It´s a real
: show!! The moon will be totally gone for about half an hour. Galilei
: Galileo was right, the earth is moving, it´s confirmed once again.

I was watching it for a while too...my youngest turned six today....we all went out to look when my Wife's parents went home. Glad to have seen some of it with you too....temps in the low to mid 20's (farenheight) here...colder than we're used to at this time of year in Wisconsin. Our neigbors in Canada are probably still running around in shorts and t-shirts...you too probably.

Strange
: it took the pope several houndred years to understand that.

I don't know, some things don't take to change very easily...I mean, to think that humanity and the Earth are not the center of the Universe!

: Richard

Thanks for the response. I'm sure you made some great friends in the study circle. You all made some great boats, that is for sure.
Bill