R_H, have you had any experience with Bingham Projects? I'm with you on the all wood for a novice. They sell the kits complete with laminations, black glass and maple core. I haven't researched them much but it sounds similar to the construction BW uses. You have to make the mold and press I think.

I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There�s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts. � Ronald Reagan