I'll try not to get into techno-garble but obviously we are all internet users here. I've started using an online app called Google Notebooks and it is a great tool for researching and sharing ideas and discoveries. I've been using it to organize notes and online info about tools and woodworking. You can publish your notebooks as webpages for others to use and also set it up to have multiple users add to the notebooks. The best thing is that it is easy to use and edit. Here are some notebooks I've made public Layout tools Workbenches Saws If anyone would like to join me in building these notebooks, just email me and I will add you to the list of editors. As these are filled in, it will create a great resource that is fully searchable.

I've added Stephen Shepherd's website and his blog to the Links page. I have also added the feed from his blog to the RSS page so you check for updates. Stephen's website includes the awesome Alburnam's Archive which has long been a favorite resource of mine. His blog is a favorite of mine as wel. You must check it out. Thanks, Stephen!

I've added two new feeds to the RSS page. One is Chris Swarz's Lost Art Press blog and the other is Leif's Norse Woodsmith blog. Both are excellent blogs well worth following.

Chris Schwarz reviews Philly's Miter Plane on the Popular Woodworking blog. Nice plane, Philly!

I'm sure most of you remember and miss Stephen Shephard's website Alburnum's Archive. I recently got an email from Stephen and he is preparing a new site which will be called fullchisel.com. Good news indeed!

Dave Jeske at Bluespruce Toolworks is now offering a fishtail detail chisel. Very cool!

Please excuse all the mess around here. I have gone though a major ordeal with this site but I think the problems are finally resolved. I'll try to explain some of the issues (Warning! Geek speak ahead). 1. My webhost since 2003, HostMerit, went bankrupt. He gave no notice he was shutting down until after the fact. 2. Another company, who shall remain nameless, took all the website files from HostMerit and put them on their own servers. Again this was after the fact and without my permission. Of course nothing worked because this broke all the links in the database. I had learned to keep my own backups and was able to put the site back up but many things were broken. I had several nasty email exchanges with the new host because they kept changing things without my permission or notifiying me so I had to make several restarts. I agreed to pay them month by month until I could get my site fixed and moved even though I had paid a year in advance with HostMerit. I found these people don't send invoices or emails, they just shut your site off each month at the payment date even though I had asked to set up an automatic payment with PayPal.

The latest Popular Woodworking magazine has a good shooting board article with plans. An expanded version of the article is available as a PDF file. It is pretty big at almost 2mb so it might take awhile to load over a slower intenet connection.

Greetings Folks, Having stumbled (I forget how) across this forum , and then having read the discussions on planes and cutting angles, specifically on bevel up format, I would like to introduce myself. Basically I am a cabinet maker, but also make the odd plane now and again-please see my web sites www.collectablefurniture.co.nz and www.marcouplanes.com. Pertaining to recent discussions folk may be interested to see that I have had a blitz on bevel up planes, having made smoothers bedded at 15 and 20degrees, a large block bedded at 20 degrees and a miter bedded at 12 degrees. I also made a hybrid bedded at 37 degrees, blade bevel up or down. I use Veritas A2 blades and my own D2 and O1 blades. At present I am making two smaller smoothers, 2" blade, 50 degree bed bevel DOWN. I welcome questions , suggestions and criticisms.

Hook, crooked, bent knives, whatever you like to call them (they are the same depending on what part of the world your in), are an exceptionally versatile tool if made well. Carvers, craftspeople, and woodworkers of every stripe would benefit from having a good sturdy hook in their tool box. I know a plumber who would not be without one. A strong hook gets into places nothing else will. First, the steel. Tool steel bought from a supplier is perfectly annealed and easy to work with, but I recover mill bandsaw blade 12"wide x 30" or gang saw which is 18"diameter x 1" because of its qualities and strength. It is a Swedish steel with a combination of molybdenum, chromium, nickel as well as a high carbon content. When filers (a mill working trade) toss band saw out they cut them up into 4" or 5" lengths. If you can get some it is well worth using, especially for hooks and swan necks, because of its exceptional tensile strength which lends itself to an excellent edge. I was taught old school. Files, no glue, and hardening and tempering. The most important factor in making any knife with reclaimed steel is the annealing process. For a hook of medium size using sawblade (with any hard high carbon steel the process is the same) have a piece of steel ¾" x 1/8" x 6". Bring the length of steel to a cherry red slowly over 5 or 6 minutes and let it sit at that colour for at least 5 minutes (20 is ideal). Place the cherry red steel--don't let it get any hotter or you'll burn out carbon--into a large coffee can filled with wood ash or lime or wrap the steel with ceramic wool, anything that completely envelopes the cherry red steel and insulates it well. In the case of a coffee can you will need a cover and make sure the steel doesn't touch the can. Let it cool slowly overnight. In the morning you should be able to bend the steel with your fingers. Annealing relaxes the carbon molecules It can now be filed, drilled, sanded and bent. With this practice you can start from scratch putting your own shape, hardness, temper, strength and marks into the steel. Now you have a piece 1/8" x ¾" x 6" long and annealed. Whatever size of blade, it should have the same proportions. If, for instance, it is 1/16" steel, it will be half the length and width of blade. The handle end (the tang) should not be less than 2" long. With this idea you can build very small, 1/16 inch hooks, 1" long, beautiful for detail. Smaller hooks require a slightly different process. Dedicate the nicest side, the side with no nicks or scratches, as the back. Then designate one end as the tip end. Draw a line across the middle of the blade. Now there is a back and top and 3 inches of tang and 3 inches of blade. Now draw a line lengthwise right down the centre of the blade, from end to end. The two lines will cross in the centre of the blade. On the tang, one inch down from the centre cross line, mark your first bolt hole on the length line, then mark a hole point ½" from the end of the tang, on the centre length line. From the tip end, draw 2 lines, one on either side of the lengthwise centre line, creating an isosceles triangle to the cross centre line. On the equal sides of the triangle, draw slow curved lines for the cutting edges Now grind to the curved lines. Keep the steel cool dipping it into a can of water as the steel heats up. There are two more parts, edge and shaping and hardening and tempering, to this article. Cariboo Blades Handforged Tools and Knives