She's largely self-taught, relying on books for information and trial and error for experience. She's also a determined advocate for women woodworkers, offering support and guidance in her popular Starting Points column on this web site. Barb has also written for woodworking publications, including Woodworker's Journal and Popular Woodworking.

"Like a lot of women, I didn't start woodworking as a hobby until my (four) kids were into and out of college," Barb says. "I'm old enough where I grew up in the days of, 'Girls don't do that!' I asked the high school principal to be in the high school shop, and I was refused. A few years after I left they made the boys take home ec and the girls take shop. I had wanted to, I just wasn't given the opportunity."

Of her own experience in learning how to work in the shop, she says, "I was just shuffling around on my own. I went to the library and got a lot of books and found there was a whole world I didn't know about. It was sort of an up-by-the bootstraps approach. That's why I wanted to do the Starting Points column. The basics are what I really aim to do with that column. You just need to ask someone, 'Whoa, what am I doing wrong here?' "

Barb's tablesaw rests on a rolling, shop-made cabinet. It can be rolled out the door for more interior space, and tucks under the drill press when not in use.