Toolemera Blog

Hand Tool Makers (.com)

Site review : handtoolmakers.com.

Disclosure Statement - Hand Tool Makers is one of my sites. Which is to say, whatever I say in this review is completely biased, self-serving and should be taken with no more than one grain of salt. Or in my case, no salt at all. High blood pressure, ya' know.

What began as Luddites R Us has morphed into Hand Tool Makers, a website devoted to the makers or hand tools. If you are still with me on this, please read on.

In brief, Hand Tool Makers is an online directory of people who make hand tools for a living, for some commercial gain, for their own use, for gifts or who have made them in the long-ago past for us collectors to pay big bucks for and place on our display shelves. Hand Tool Makers is not limited to woodworking tools, although it may seem to be at this point in time. Any craft or trade can be represented. I'll be adding a Book Arts section shortly, which may not surprise anyone who reads this blog.

The site is divided into three sections:

Commercial
For people or companies who make hand tools for a living or for some financial gain.

User Made
For people who make hand tools for their own use, for show or as gifts.

Historical
A compendium of hand tool categories and types through the ages. Examples, hopefully, will be: Hand Planes, Chisels, Saws, Marking Gauges, etc. This won't be a listing of companies. Rather, it will be an ongoing gallery of tools by type. For example, under Hand Planes you would find: Hollow & Round; Rabbets in all their glory; Plow, etc. The intent is to provide a review of the multitude of shapes and forms hand tools have come in over the ages. Images will be contributed primarily by the folks out there. When I am ready to work on a section, I'll request image contributions from various email lists and forums.

Listings are by request or referral. Someone or something may find their selves or it-selves listed without ever having requested said listing. Images may appear in the listings that have clearly been 'borrowed' from the property owner's website. Same for data such as email contacts and addresses. All such material will be posted under the geas of Fair Use. If anyone doesn't want to be listed, takes offense for some reason or would like images or other data to be removed, I will happily do so without remorse.

For now, I'm adding material as people recommend sites or request a listing. I have no doubt that I will thank someone for their recommendation or request and then forget to complete the listing. Don't be afraid to bug me. I'm working first on the Commercial section, to be followed by the User Made section.

Till next, Gary

"The Five Plagues (CADEG)"

Not plaque. This is not a reference to that visit to the Dentist you have been putting off. The full quote reads:

"The Five Plagues (CADEG): Customers, Authors, Distribution, Editors, Google"

There's a blog that I regularly read, known by the title Self Publishing 2.0. Morris Rosenthal, the originator and owner of the blog, is both an advocate of self-publishing, a commentator on the well-being or lack thereof regarding the general publishing industry and a general all around joy to read.

Within the confines of a blog post, Morris always manages to state his case, supply supporting evidence (or simply say it's his opinion) and draw the commentary to a conclusion. Which is more than I can say for many journalistic endeavors, not to mention your average novel. I hate it when a novelist takes the easy way out, pulls a Deus Ex Machina and wraps up a complex narrative in one last chapter, leaving you wondering what just happened?

Needless to say, I find myself agreeing with Morris' comments. If I didn't, I wouldn't be reading his blog. Yes, I am a biased blog reader. I only read what I agree with.

On customers:
"Aren't customers just awful? So demanding and so disloyal. Why can't they all just sign up (with a credit card) to purchase every book you publish?"

On publishers:
"If publishers could only produce books without authors, what a paradise publishing would be."

On distributors:
"Distribution was invented by the Devil. First the distributors want discounts ranging from 55% to 75%, and then they want to return the travel worn books! What do they think, that dust jackets grow on trees?"

On editors:
"After a few years, editors start thinking that they're somebody!"

On Google:
"Then there's Google, with their damn search and destroy engine, breaking down the monopoly on information long held by publishers."

Following these friendly rants, comes:

"The Five Blessings (GEDAC): Google, Editors, Distribution, Authors, Customers"

You'll just have to head over to Self Publishing 2.0 to read the rest.

Till next, Gary

Unplugged Needs A New Socket

Folks

Luke Townsley, creator of UnpluggedShop.com, is looking for a new owner for the blog. Alas, keeping a blog organized and running is a time consuming enterprise and Luke has his hand's full. To use his words:

"These last nine months or so of running unpluggedshop.com have been interesting and profitable to me personally. I have enjoyed doing this site, and believe it fills a needed niche. I am not thinking about closing it, but I don't have the time or incentive to take it to the next level."

UnpluggedShop.com is a fine aggregator of woodworking and handtool material. Rather than taking the fully auto-feed approach, Luke has assembled a hand-picked compendium of notable woodworking sites and blogs. His blog has become a must-see stop for people who have been looking for a review of what is interesting and worthwhile. I would hate to see it fall into the abyss of worthwhile blogs that should have continued but didn't due to the forces of time, family, work and nature.

If you are interested in discussing the possibilities with Luke, please check out his blog and get in touch with him.

Till next, Gary

Woodworking Handtool Forum

Somehow, I missed this one. But, following the bread crumbs left by one Galooticus of rec.ww fame, I found my way to the Woodworking Handtool Forum. If I had to come up with a name for a forum devoted to handtools, I could not have done better than to cut to the chase and name it thusly.

So let's take a look at what happens there:

• Welcome: ok, that one is pretty self-explanatory. But a nice touch all the same.
• General Woodworking: well, still pretty self-explanatory. Direct and to the point.
• The Tool Cabinet: Now we're getting somewhere! All things Woodworking Handtools. My kinda place.
• Sharpening: Important, but not too sexy.
• Workbenches and Tool Cabinets: Now we're getting back to the good stuff.
• Gallery: Drool city.
• Off-topic: Yes, every forum has to have one of these.
• The Review Board: Talk about stuff you bought and what people think of the stuff.
• Independant Toolmakers: Yup, the title says it all.
• The Swap Meet: Sell it, trade it.

Ok, so now you have read my brief introduction. I would say more, but I am a newbie on this forum, else I would elaborate in greater detail. Suficit to say, if you like woodworking handtools, you should be checking out the Woodworking Handtool Forum.

Till next, Gary

The Ephemera Network

Social Networking. Blog. Website. Forum. Bulletin Board. Thoroughly dating myself here, I've tried them all. Way back in the early days of Compuserve and the local Boston Mac Users Group, all we had were text based interactions. Oh. Wait. That's what we still have, as a rule (with the exception of people who prefer to actually see to whom they are talking. Talk about backwards progress). Things are a lot prettier now. Animation, graphics, spam, pop-up ads, cyber-thievery and cracking (not 'hacking' as so many people call it, the proper bit of nomenclature is 'cracking').

Now-a-days, you sneeze and things change. Yet, despite my nihilistic mutterings, things are getting better out there in the web. I was recently invited to join a new Social Networking/Blog/Forum/?whatever you want to call it now spot, The Ephemera Network. Yes, I jumped right in and I don't have to explain why. As much as tools and trades are near and dear to my heart, if it's made of paper, it grabs my attention. Just as with tool collectors, ephemera collectors come in every shape and size, with every imaginable focus of interest and just as rapid about their particular passion as Stanley collectors are about what sub-sub type of tool it is.

A particular feature that I like about The Ephemera Network (aka T.E.N. ... and here I thought Toolemera was clever!) is the ability of members to create new sub-sections if they want to. By doing so, you can really get to see just how wide and varied the interests are of people who call themselves Ephemerists, Book People and Paper Heads (I made up that last one). Collectors, Dealers, Academics, Students and their ilk are being brought into the fold of T.E.N. as word gets around. As with most social networks, getting the word out is a personal thing. You have to Tell people about it. At least until the search engines get wind of the new spot.

So here I am telling you about it. Even if you consider yourself to be a hard-boiled toolie, go over and take a look. You just might become infected with a new obsession.

The Ephemera Network

Till next
Gary