snipped:
>D????A writes: "Perhaps it is up to the current generation of builders
>to develop new methods, directions to keep frame building as we know
>alive well into this century. To do so one has to have a market to build
>to, maybe we have to nourish this?"

the answer, if there is such a thing as an answer, is to do frame repairs.
as many as as varied as is possible. viewing the work of others and
systematically deconstructing it is the fastest way to learn; it is better
to do this than to take a pile of parts and build a frame. in many other
trades, particularly among the woodworking and instrument building
craftsmen, no one does anything end-to-end before a long apprentice-
ship cum babtism by fire doing repairs and mundane tasks is served to
chrystalize one's working skills and/or hand-eye coordination. is anyone
on this list taking this route versus just buying pipes and brazing helter
skelter?
e-RICHIE