There are a lot of web sites devoted to woodworking, and the explosion of information available on the Internet has made finding resources and gathering information faster and easier than ever before. One new site, My Werkshop, makes it possible for anyone to set up their own web space for free. In addition to being free, the interface is incredibly easy to use.

All you need to get started is an e-mail address. After creating your account, you can add photos and text about yourself and your work. Other visitors to the site can post comments and choose their favorite projects. If you sell your work, you can use your page as an online gallery, or you can simply share what you're working on with other woodworkers.

I created a page in just a few minutes; part of it is in the image to the right. Uploading photos is incredibly easy. The software on the site automatically resizes the images, so all you need to do is browse to the file location on your computer and click a button.

Adding text is equally simple. All of the boxes on your page have an "edit" button when you are logged in. Click on that and you can add information, change information or delete what you don't want.

The site is set up so that you can create a project and add photos and text as you go along. My Werkshop is hosted by Woodwerks Supply as a free service. The community site is connected to the store site, but there isn't any advertising except for a small unobtrusive link at the top of the page.

So, if you want to show off and share your work, get started by visiting the site at:

http://www.woodwerks.com/werkshop.php

Your spell checker may not like it, but you probably will.

— Bob Lang

Confusing the Beginners-In Person

I don't make many personal appearances, but next Saturday, October 27, I will be at the Woodcraft store in Roswell, Georgia. I'll be giving some presentations and hanging around to talk to people. If you're in the area I hope you'll find the time to stop by and say hello.

A week or so ago I wrote on the blog about what hand tools I use, and one of the things I'll be talking about in Georgia is using hand tools in a modern woodworking shop. One of the things I see happen is that people who want to learn to use hand tools get overwhelmed and confused by the variety of tools, and the tendency of experts to get bogged down in minutia. One of the most frequent questions we get asked at the magazine is, "What tools and skills do I need to get started?" My answer is, "You don't need them all, and if you can shave your face without cutting off your nose, you're well on the way to developing the skills."

My plan is to go through the basics, give some recommendations on the most often-used tools, the skills to use them effectively, and some techniques you don't see every day. I will also be talking about the Festool Domino
the experience we've had with it here in our shop, and how it compares to other methods of making joints.

In between the formal stuff, I'll be there to answer questions and talk about almost anything. If you have a copy of one of my books I'll be glad to sign it, and if you want to pick up a book or a set of large format plans, I'll have them on hand. I hope to see you there.

Each month I receive newsletters from woodworking clubs and guilds around the country. Some come from groups I’ve spent time with and some arrive from people I’ve met while doing furniture and woodworking shows.

This month I was particularly interested in a newsletter from the Washington Woodworkers Guild – "The Wooden Word." On the first page of the newsletter (open the pdf below to read the page) a man is pictured standing next to a Massachusetts Block Front Chest. That would normally catch my eye by itself, but this article had my name associated with it as well. What did I do this time?

Tom Witzig is an accomplished furnituremaker and member of the guild who decided to build his Block Front Chest using a chapter from my book “Building Period Furniture” (Popular Woodworking Books) as a basis. As I see it, he builds pieces exactly as he should. Tom changes the design to fit his style of craftsmanship, he allows the material on hand to dictate the size of the piece, and he makes the necessary adjustments along the way. In my opinion, not following the plan and directions to the letter makes you understand the process better. Understanding the process allows you to apply those methods to future projects. If you follow the directions, you build one piece. If you understand the process, you can build any number of projects employing the same techniques.

On the downside of the article, Tom nailed the drawer runners to the case (as I indicated to do) and the case side split. That upset him and he vowed to add rear drawer dividers and not nail the runners if he built the piece again.

That would upset me too, but only for an instant. I don’t mind cracks in the case side due to wood movement – although my customers weren’t real fond of them. I think it makes the furniture more authentic looking when building reproductions. If you examine period pieces in museum collections, you’ll notice many case pieces that are cracked at the sides. It’s what happens over hundreds of years. Some of the pieces show old corrections or fixes while some stayed as they were.

You wouldn’t dream of fixing an original John Townsend chest – would you? I let time take its course on my pieces. What would you do?

– Glen D. Huey

The Auriou company has been making rasps by hand since 1856, and have only recently become available to woodworkers in the United States and Canada, where they have been hailed as outstanding tools. Several of the North American catalog companies that carry the tools still have stock on hand (get your credit card ready), but once that is gone, no more tools are expected.

Mike Hancock, the Auriou representative for the United States and the United Kingdom, said that the company had been growing quickly during the last few years, but that some employees refused to work overtime to keep up with demand. The situation deteriorated during the factory's normal August shut down, and now the company has been handed over to liquidators.

The full text of Michel Auriou's statement about the closure can be downloaded below.

Auriou's rasps are, without a doubt, the most prized rasps in the Popular Woodworking shop, even more so than the Nicholson patternmaker's rasps that most people consider as the best. Auriou also made carving tools, adzes and other tools.

The teeth of the Aurious are made by hand, which gives them a slight randomness in their arrangement on the blank. This randomness creates a rasp that cuts quite smoothly and quickly. If you'd like to read more about how these rasps were made, Joel Moskowitz of Tools for Working Wood has written an excellent explanation of the process that you can read on his web site.

If you are looking to purchase Aurious, here are a few of the places that we know that carry them. Act fast.

As to our recommendations for the rasps to have, that really depends on your work. We typically use a cabinetmaker's rasp followed up by one of the modeller's rasps. We've also used the rifflers, which are excellent, if your work demands it. I'm not sure how fine ours are. The cabinetmaker's rasp is coarser than the modeller's rasp, which is a good combination for us.

• Tools for Working Wood
• Lee Valley Tools
• Lie-Nielsen Toolworks
• Woodcraft
• Highland Hardware
• The Best Things
• Classic Hand Tools

And if all of those sources are sold out, we recommend you take a good look at the Gramercy Tools handmade rasps from Tools for Working Wood. Though not quite as perfect as the Aurious, they are high-quality tools.

Download the full text of Michel Auriou's statement.

AuriouStatement.htm (6.47 KB)

— Christopher Schwarz