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Jeff Greef Woodworking

Editor's Picks of Links

As you know if you've spent any time on the web looking at woodworking sites, there are a lot of them and they range far and wide in quality and emphasis. Having done a fair amount of surfing myself to put together my Long List of Links, I thought I'd give you an overview of what I found along with some favorites.

The Internet and World Wide Web began as a uniform means of accessing information between computers, so scientists could easily see each other's work. The beauty of it is that there is so little difficulty and expense involved in making information available to people, unlike print media where paper, printing and logistics costs are high. It's possible to present a lot of free information on the web and you'll find much for free about woodworking. But, as is too obvious to anyone who websurfs much, there is certainly a lot for sale out there too, sometimes in rather obnoxious ways.

Of the woodworking sites I've seen, there is a certain number that seem to be exploiting the medium just for its sales potential, as with some tool and supply sellers. But the difference between 'exploiting for sales potential' and 'providing a service to consumers' is subjective. I have only seen a few sites that look like cheap television ads. On the other hand I've seen many specialty retailers on the web that I would probably not have seen otherwise because they can't afford magazine advertising. The web really excels at making specialized items and services available to a broad audience. For examples of these look at the Specialized Catalogues and Products and Jigs and Misc. Specialized Manufacturers listings in the Long List of Links.

Project Plans

There are a lot of free project plans and techniques available too, such as on this site. Some of larger print publishers are putting very good quality project plans up for free, such as those offered by Fine Woodworking and Popular Mechanics. Check out the Larger Listings of Internet Plans section of the Long List for a few sites that list only free plans. I've looked at some of the sites listed and found some good plans and some not so good plans. But you might be willing to tolerate poor plans if they are for just the project you want to build.

Be sure to check out the project plans search engines in the Larger Listings of Internet Plans section too, though these will turn up both free and for sale plans.

General Info Sites

There are a bunch of sites that specialize in presenting as much different info on woodworking as possible from tool reviews, techniques articles, data bases of project plans, chat forums where you can ask questions and other useful resources. Some of these sites pay the bills by putting advertising on the site, others ask you to subscribe. They are all listed in the General Woodworking Sites heading of the Long List. The Woodworker's Website Association is one of these and worth a visit.

I think the largest collection of links pertaining to woodworking is at the About.Com Woodworking Site, put up by the Mining Co. The focus is broad, so you'll see a lot of sites for industry and not the home woodworker, but there is certainly much there for hobbyists too. Another huge listing of links, perhaps more than About.Com, is The Woodchuck Canuck.

Sustainable Lumber Sources

We need to be careful where we get our wood so there will be some left for our grandkids. Two good sites that will help you make wise choices in this direction are The Certified Forest Products Council and Forestworld database of sustainable lumber.

Online Tool Museums

Check out these two museums- Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum and Museum of Woodworking Tools. And just for fun try W.F. & John Barnes Patented Foot-Powered Machinery.

And remember- when in doubt, surf. Check out the links section on any site you visit. You just might find that one tool or project you've been looking for, or maybe you'll find a spouse- who knows.

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