If you have an old overgrown shrub, say a forsythia or the like, or else one that gets taken to the ground or almost to the ground in spring, or a friend has and will let you play with it, you could start with that. In both situations, whatever you do is not earth shattering if it goes slightly wrong - as you can cut it off, or cut further back and not feel you have "ruined" the shrub - in the one case, it WILL grow vigorously anyway, and in the other case, your cuts will also be cut away. You can make cuts, and then stand back and look at the shrub, and decide if that was a "good" cut or not - if the shrub is going to the ground anyway, in the greater scheme of things, it's OK if that wasn't a good idea. What I find works for me - so it might not work for you - is to go around the shrub (whatever it is) a couple of times, decide which branches and twigs are dead and take them off, take out the crossing, really misplaced branches and obviously "wrong" branches, and then go 'round it again, and try to visualize what it would look like without this branch or that section of branch. Sometimes, I decide to stop there, as I think it's OK with all the branches that are there. If I think it would look better, I take it off, and then walk around it and look again. I always do this feeling that I can go back later and take off more, but right now I don't HAVE to do it all - tomorrow is always another day! Hope this helps. Experience, hands-on, will also help, as does watching someone who is willing to explain why they are taking off what they are.

Again? OK, this will be my last post on the issue. I'm tired of arguing. For any compact fluorescent you can show me, I can show you a straight tube of the same or lower power that produces more lumens. OK? That's what I mean when I say that "straight tubes produce more light (for the same power)". If you want to compare your spanking new high output triphosphor PL compact on an electronic ballast with a ten-year-old halophosphate T12 design on a magnetic ballast, or even with the many less-than-top-notch straight tubes you can still buy today, then feel free. I can also show you a small hatchback that would beat a forumla 1 car from twenty years ago but that doesn't mean I would pick a small hatchback if I wanted the fastest car available. I'll repeat it for the very last time: straight tubes are the most efficient, up to 100 lumens/W, long high power "twin-tube" (actually a single bent tube) compact fluorescents are next with up to 85 lumens/W, smaller "2-D" low power twin-tube are next at up to 75 lumens/W, and the small domestic spiral compact fluorescents are last at about 65 lumens/W. Obsolete designs, T12s, most anything on a magnetic ballast, many many T8s, lots of halophosphate tubes, anything you have in the basement from ten years ago, and probably more I've missed may be even less efficient.

I would like to thank everyone for their comments on this topic because it is helping me make the decision as to whether or not to take a leap into this market space. For the past 35 years I have bought, sold and traded sports memorabilia at all levels of the market, private collector, brick and mortar retail, private investment advisor, and now online, and while the industry and buyers have evolved and changed, one thing has remained, demand! The older vintage cards and memorabilia is always in demand regardless of the economy so it holds it value. We see the same trend with comic books, toys, dolls, and Disney memorabilia. Can anyone see what all these things have in common? Children! Today's collectibles market is driven by the demand for the things we had as children, and I say we because it is my generation (born in 1966) that is now the buyers and my parents generation (1941) and my children's generation (1990) that is selling. Over the past few years I have noticed that fine china that was once a staple in antique shops is now piled on bottom shelves and overflow boxes in place like the DAV thrift shop or the Habitat for Humanity resell store with $20 price tags. Not for each piece, for the whole set. As an example, the set of china my wife and I have was purchased at the DAV for $20. It is a service for 12 and included all of the service pieces, including a teapot, sugar bowl, and creamer dish. It has a oriental bamboo design from 1952. When we got it home we were amazed to find every piece in pristine condition and only the sugar bowl lid, soup ladle, and oversized serving platter were missing. It was when I went on line to find the pieces that I realize that I had just purchased a $5,000 set of china for twenty bucks. This was my wife's favorite story to tell friends and family while eating off the dishes. She has since passed on but I still have the china which will like be sold rather than passed down since we bought all of our children large beautiful china sets for christmas a few years ago. Only one still has her's. The other three children either gave theirs away or abandoned it during a move. My last sentence brings to question, is it the change in attitude of the upcoming generations that has resulted in the casting aside of once cherished and loved heirlooms? Or, could it be, with the generation of the Depression Era gone and the generation of 20-somethings coming of age, with no interest in history or the past struggles of their great grandparents, has the importance of respecting the things we take for granted been lost. Yes we are talking about dishes, but at some point, very likely in the near future, having a plate for your food may be a gift rather than a convenience. I am not sure what has happened to the interest in fine china and crystal. Who knows why the things we desire and place importance upon change from generation to generation. Whatever the reason, I am grateful that I have the opportunity to preserve and pass on pieces for the past, pieces of history that have a story to tell. Just like us. Pieces of the past with a story to tell! In closing, today i stopped at one of our local thrift stores and as I always do, I found a few things that I could have lived without, a pink glass Jesters Cup, a commemorative frosted crystal Rocks Glass, a cut crystal shot glass from the Sochi Olympics (BobSled), and two miniature porcelain bells. I paid $2.50 total, for all five items. And, tonight while I was writing this, I sold the Sochi shot glass and the pink glass Jesters Cup for a total of $95.00. To answer the question posed, yes, I do believe there is still a market for these once treasured items, and like some have said, it is up to the individual as to how to pass them on. One way that was not mentioned , how about gifting the to a friend or family that has never had the opportunity to own fine china or crystal stemware? Someone who will love and cherish them just as you have. For me, to see someone I care about smile is worth far more than a dollar bill.

" I so desperately want him to have a router table. Any time I route things there, I have to clamp guides onto the wood instead of being able to use a fence." Clamping guides when routing is the way to go. Don't try to set up the router with a fence. You'll have an accident. I have a router table. There is only one safe use for it: cutting machined dovetail joinery with a prefabricated jig. Nothing else can be done safely with the router table. All other routing operations are safer and just as precise when performed by hand with guides clamped to the workpiece. Router tables are too dangerous. Kickback causes the workpiece to shoot across the room, and your hands are pushing right into the rotating cutter. Keep the router in your hands, gripped tight onto the router handles, and the workpiece clamped securely to the bench. Router table kickback is the norm. Tablesaws kickback rarely. Router cutters are notorious for tear-out. This is when the wood splinters and tears away more that the cutter is taking off. You don't want to be holding the wood with your hands when this occurs. As for the tall fence, it's really simple. See the video. Get these Rockler fence clamps, and you're in business. The tall fence is just another piece attached to the clamped-on piece. It takes about 3 minutes to make and install a tall fence for the tablesaw. Here is a link that might be useful: Rockler fence clamps