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Some of My Favorite Links

So where do you begin and where do you end when it comes to listing links? I've decided that if others are going to all the trouble of maintaining woodworking link lists, then why should I duplicate their splendid efforts? So, I'm linking to their pages and when I find something of interest not there, I'll give it a separate listing here and tell you a bit about it.

Links to Sites with Links

• Galoot Central - Link Central (formerly Robs' Internet Hand Tool Knowledge Base)
THE Galoot Knowledge Base, with pages and pages of links of specific interest to hand tool users. So, if you want to build a bench, buy a brace, or stuff an infill, Rob will send you to the right place. BTW... the knowledgebase has a new home at Galoot Central and is better than ever since it is now searchable!

• The Woodweb Knowledge Base
Lots of good information, if a bit heavy on the power tool side of the equation. Extensive collection of articles, worksheets, and - all with a searchable index. The main Woodweb site lists an extensive range of Forums and resources.

• Cornish Workshop
I find myself going to Alf's website pretty often of late, so I felt it high time that I add it to my list here. Take a look at Galootish Gleanings for a wide collection of links to articles and information on hand tools and their use. Also, Alf has written up quite a few tool reviews, gathered a whole section on shooting boards, and has collected lots of other interesting stuff. Check it out.

• DMOZ Woodworking Websites
See what websites the folks at the "Open Directory Project" have deemed worthy of mention in the Woodworking-Website-World (that's what WWW means - right?). In case you're not familiar with DMOZ, they put the human touch in web rankings. So, all sites listed there have been classified, reviewed, and accepted by volunteer editors. By way of disclosure - I edit the DMOZ Woodworking Schools and Instructions section.

• Wood Central
Several message boards (even a hand tool one) and the complete archive of the now defunct Badger Pond website. Excellent collection of articles, book reviews, and shop tours - all with a searchable index. If you're bored, try their daily trivia section.

• Storage Bin
An ever-growing collection of Manuals, Catalogs, Information, and Software from Wik and the Galoots here at Old Tools Shop.

• Fine Tool Makers
Wik, our host here at the Old Tools Shop has assembled a nice collection of links to fine tool makers of particular interest to hand tool users.

• Index of Fossil-Friendly Woodworking Knowledge
In this list, Cian Perez has gathered much hand tool wisdom, from the ever popular sharpening and dovetailing, to the less sought after hardwood lumber grading guidelines. Cian has created a great spot to spend a cold winters evening.

• Free Plans
The proprietor of Messman's Woodworking has done a fabulous job of creating an extensive list of links to free woodworking plans. While your there, check out the rest of the site as well.

• More Free Plans
The Triangle Woodworkers Association of North Carolina has compiled a collection of plans, mostly from The Woodworkers Journal of the 1980s and 90s. While many plans are clearly dated, there are some gems in there.

Sites Worth a Special Mention

• A Woodwork Notebook
Jeff Gorman's excellent site on methods of working with hand tools. You will find Jeff's site referenced several times on Rob's Internet Hand Tool Knowledge Base (above), but it is so good that it is worthy of a separate mention.

• An Old Tools Book List
Ken Greenberg has compiled an impressive list of books on the subjects of hand tool techniques, old tool collecting, projects, and design. The list is viewable by Title, Subject, or Author. Just to make it official, most every title has been reviewed by a genuine Galoot! While you're there, take a look at Ken's personal woodworking site. Ken does very nice work and has information on projects ranging from a mission coffee table to a curly-maple pizza peel.

• Patrick's Blood and Gore
No traditional woodworking website link list would be complete without a reference to Patrick Leach's classic web tome devoted to the Stanley plane and all of its derivations. Here you will find every Stanley plane since the transition (and even some of those), along with in-depth descriptions and photographs. In addition to all of this, lets just say™ Patrick makes a few bonerific tools for sale as well.

• DATAMAP
The Directory of American Tool & Machinery Patents. This volunteer operated website has the lofty goal of cataloging as many US Patents as they can under the heading of antique tool and woodworking machines. They estimate that there are 30,000 to catalogue - so far they have in excess of 5,100! Very interesting browsing.

• The Toolemera Press
Gary Roberts, has put together a unique site devoted to tool ephemera – that is, letterheads, trade cards, catalogues, photographs, etc. His growing collection is definitely worth spending time viewing, either for information or just for the fun of it.

• Museum of Woodworking Tools
This is a commercial site with a personal feel. This site goes out of the way to provide educational information and how-to articles. In addition to the "Permanent Collection" with photos of rabbet, shoulder, and combination planes and a "Guide to Honing," the site boasts various temporary exhibits, such as the "Tools of Vietnam" collection at the time of this writing. Pour yourself a Shiner Bock or a Fursty Ferret and take a tour.

• Fine Tools Chests
The Smithsonian's "Tool Chests: Symbol & Servant" page is the virtual home of the famous Studley Piano Maker Chest, as well as James Locke's Cabinetmaker Chest and several others. If you want to build your own version of the Studley Chest, the Phoenix Masonry Masonic Museum features a 1993 Fine Wood Working article detailing the contents of the Studley chest. Color versions of that article's b&w photos can be found in a brief online FWW article, The Peerless Tool Chest of H. O. Studley, by editor Lon Schleining. A related source of information is Jeff Scott's "Studley Inspired" tool chest entered in a 2005 Wood Central contest. Another over-the-top hand tool box is one by J. Rustin. If you are looking to roll your own, see the nice collection of links at Rob's Internet Hand Tool Knowledgebase.

Another fine example of the tool chest art is the J.A. Jewett Patternmaking Tool Chest. In my opinion, Mr. Jewett’s tool chest is more functionally suited to the storage/display of hand tools of an early 21st century woodworker than the showier Studley. Patrick Leach, the current owner, provides a highly entertaining commentary on how he acquired the chest by randomly stopping at a garage sale. Patrick also provides several nice detailed photographs to help you along on your quest to build your ultimate tool chest.

Popular Woodworking features Benjamin Seaton's intact and lightly used 18th century cabinetmakers chest. PW offers up a description, photos, and measured drawings on their website. Lastly, Tony Sade, one of the regulars over at Sawmill Creek shares photos of his fantastic new wall hung tool chest.

• Mikes Stained Glass
Mike Savad's extensive site provides a great overview of what's involved in building art glass pieces. His site will supply a lot of answers, if looking at the glass panels on my projects page has piqued your curiosity. BTW... If you think that your shop is crowded, just take a look at his!

• Technologystudent.com
This is a website geared toward, exactly what it says - students of technology. There's an extensive collection of overview-style technology information sheets for pupils and teachers - many of them animated. Woodworkers will be interested in looking at the joints and equipment pages, but there is a wealth of information concerning all aspects of "Industrial Arts," as it used to be called when I was in school.

• Gary M. Katz Online
Mr. Katz is a long-time presenter of Finish and Trim Carpentry seminars, writer of magazine articles, and moderator of the JLC-Online (Journal of Light Construction) forum on Finish Carpentry. His website is a collection of photo-essays on various topics, such as building a beaux arts mantle, tapered bungalow style columns, helpful jigs for the onsite-woodworker. Lots of interesting information.

• Pat's Big List of Metal-Works Links
As a woodworker, you get involved in metalwork from time to time. If you don't have a friend that is a metal-head then you need a place to go to figure out how it's done. So, in-steps Pat McGuirk, who has put together an extensive list of metal related links that will just about overwhelm the average woodworker. Happy hammering.

Woodworking Sites that You May Not Run Across Otherwise

• UK Workshop Hand Tool Forum
A hand tool forum on the other side of the pond - part of a much larger website.

• Workbench Links
If you’re a woodworker without a good bench – like me – and you are obsessing about building a bench – like me – read on. Of course I have Scott Landis’ Workbench Book in my library, I have various magazines featuring workbench plans squirreled away, and I have the ubiquitous 3-Ring binder in the shop stuffed full of bench information. So much information – only one bench!

To make life easier, here are three great resources featuring links and information on workbenches: Rob's Internet Woodworking Knowledgebase - Workbenches,and Bug Bear's Workbench Links. Also, if you’re interested in the Granddaddy of all documented benches, the 18th century Roubo bench, featured in the Autumn 2005 issue (#4) of Woodworking Magazine (currently available as a back issue) then you will may be interested in Editor Christopher Schwarz’s Blog-1, Blog-2, Blog-3, & Blog-4, follow-ups to that article. Also, Gary Roberts at Toolemera Press has reproduced a few select plates from Andre Roubo;s 18th century tome, The Art of the Joiner, that includes several views of workbenches.

• White Mountain Design & Toolworks
This commercial site has an eclectic collection of helpful and how-to articles, from the Stanley 45 Page, to how to build a Shooting Board (Chuting Board to some), how to build a Humidor, and how to Hand Cut Dovetails. Interesting collection.. check it out.

• Victorian Wood Workers Association
A full featured woodworkers site from down under.

• Shop Chronicles
T.J. Mahaffey's workshop site contains a random selection of information on a variety of woodworking and workshop topics. He also draws some humorous cartoons.

Miscellaneous Sites - Just Because

• The Clamp Guy
A site that is all about those unsung heroes of the workshop, wooden clamps, hand screws, and related tools. Take a look... after all, you can never have too many.

• Sizes
Billed as Grades, Units, Scales, Calendars, Chronologies; all things Quantifiable, this website may not be a one-stop shop for all your measurement questions, but it may just provide the answer to that arcane reference in a 18th century text. For those of us who love less-than-useful trivia, it is a great browse. So, if you want to find out about ball bearing classifications, how to measure for a horse collar, how clean a clean-room has to be, was that cracker-box car you rented on your last business trip really a midsize, or if someone offers to sell you an Ancre of boiled linseed oil for $375, is it a good deal? You can find the answers to all of these questions here.

• Traditional Techniques
Self-proclaimed Galoots are not really "primitive" or even Luddites -- In fact most are highly educated and operate in today's world very successfully. Galoots are an inquisitive bunch and seem to have a common trait - a desire to understand how the world worked so well in a less technical and mechanized time. With that in mind, I think that most Galoots will find the information contained on the Primitive Ways and Society of Primitive Technology websites interesting. While much of it can be classified as home-craft and woods-craft, there's a sizeable amount of information that relates directly to woodworking, and that which doesn't, is interesting anyway.

• Millers Falls Page
Randy Roeder has done a stellar job in documenting and researching the line of hand tools from that "other tool company" with a predilection for red paint - Millers Falls. Randy uses the term encyclopedic in his description, and I don't think anyone considers that an overstatement. Check it out - a very interesting and informative site.

• The Specialist
Just to prove that you can apply thoughtful insight and "best practices" in any field, here is a link to Chic Sale's 1920s tall-tale about a carpenter who took to specializing in privy construction.