Original poster: "David Speck" <dave-at-davidspeckmd-dot-org> FWIW, I built my first coil from the Popular Electronics articles in 7th grade shop class in 1965, while my classmates were building bowling pin lamps. Needless to say, I had an extremely understanding shop teacher. Those were great days! Dave >My coiling extends back to 1972 - a mere 32 years ago.