My account is now active at www.adroll.com. You can now buy space through them on my site or among the groups of sites I participate in at AdRoll including "Traditional Woodworking" and Design/DIY/Crafty sites.  read more »

In the US, there is a current discussion about a presidential candidate who apparently doesn't know how to used email. The question raises an interesting point.

Without going into the politics of the whole thing, which is a subject much better suited for other blogs, let's just look at the question of whether or not it is vital to be technologically integrated in this day and age.

If a person is, let's say over 50, is it vital that they get a computer and get into the internet age? I say no. I am not even convinced that the young should be totally immersed in it. Knowing how it works and understanding it is one thing, but for some of us, we would be better served to "just say no". For many more of us, we would be well served to limit our exposure.

I am not even talking about the renowned sinful temptations and cyberdangers of the internet. I am just talking about wasting our precious time in the pursuit of "efficiency."  read more »

I am a bit cheap. I appreciate quality tools. I also happen to live in a warm sub-tropical Caribbean climate. I want to make some "woodie" planes.

Basically, I want to make a whole set of planes. I intend to start with something like a Jointer or Fore plane and then do a smoothing plane and perhaps a scraper as well as a router. Sometime, I also want to make a Jack plane to replace the hopelessly cobbled together metal boat anchor, I mean finely fettled antique hand plane, that I have.  read more »

Unpluggedshop.com is continuing to attract more and more users. In the last month, we had over 10,000 pageviews, over 3,000 visits, and more than 1,500 absolute unique visitors! The average time spent on the site is 3 minutes and 47 seconds or about one minute per page.

Thanks for stopping by, and as always, let me know if you have any comments or suggestions for the site.

Luke

One of the "tools" I want to get is a traditional workman's apron. There is a picture over at www.toolemera.com of a traditional woodworker wearing one. You can see it at this page if you scroll down to the picture called "THE WISE CARPENTER AT HIS BENCH."

I really like this apron although it seems that a design that had criss-crossing shoulder straps would be a bit easier on the neck and not as prone to getting the neck strap as sweaty.

If anyone has any suggestions, pictures, patterns or ideas, I would really appreciate them. Basically, I am looking for something somewhat traditional and lightweight. A pocket for a pencil or small square would be fine, but I don't plan on carrying my toolbox in it.  read more »

**Edited: This feature was never used and has been removed due to lack of interest.**

I am offering registered users the chance to post ads and notices for free. Registering is also easy and free.

Currently, the functionality is very simple and straightforward. Ads are good for 30 days and are renewable by going in to edit your ad and clicking the appropriate check box. Pictures are limited in size to 800x800 pixels.

There is no private message system. You must provide contact information. A good way to do this if you have a website is to include a link to the product listing page on your site.

Beware of publishing your regular email address. It will not automatically be obfuscated. I would suggest setting up an alias email address that you can later delete without interrupting your business or life.  read more »

I have been initiated; I broke my first chisel handle.

I was chopping deep mortises with a 1" Lee Valley plastic handled chisel. I was beating the poor thing. While I wasn't using a heavy mallet, I am a 200 pound guy and it was getting enough of a beating that the chisel got quite warm at times which may have softened the plastic. Anyway, about halfway through the fifth mortise, it gave way.

I really wasn't trying to break the handle, honest. I thought it would hold up to the abuse, but between the chopping and levering out the chips, it just didn't make it.  read more »

Workbenches: From Design And Theory To Construction And Use by Chris Schwarz is a book that every amateur hand tool woodworker should study thoroughly.

For most hand tool woodworkers, there is no more important tool in our shop than our workbench.

I just don't know how I can overemphasize the significance of this book. If you are thinking about buying or making a workbench, you should just get it. If you must, borrow it, but get it.  read more »

Well, it has been a long haul. I think I started this project sometime around the first of this year. It has been an excercise in frustration, patience, fun, and about every other kind of excercise you can think of.

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