Tool and Woodworking Lore and Where to Find It

Last updated 2/6/00
Sources of lore on tools, wood, and technique; also a listing of relevant schools. Finally, a non-systematic collection of individual woodworkers' pages.

Tools

The oldest tools anywhere - 2.5 million years.

The WWW Museum of Woodworking Tools has rotating exhibits of cool pictures of classic tools. Includes a page that has some tips on adjusting combination planes.

The rec.woodworking antique tool FAQ, maintained by Vince Miller.

The rec.woodworking handtool FAQ, maintained by Ken Smith.

Patrick Leach's Stanley Blood & Gore, now maintained by Patrick his own self.

Patrick's core dump on the history of Stanley boxes.

Professor Leach's two-part monograph on spokeshaves.

Don Bosse's website on Miller's Patent planes.

Jay Sutherland's page o' lore, including

A note from Bob Rackers on tuning an adze.

Anatol Polillo offers some instructional videotapes on Stanley planes and on saw sharpening.

Randy Roeder's Millers Falls page.

Nate Lindsey's saw tool page.

Ralph Brendler has a page o' lore, including:

Stan Faullin's page o' lore, notable for details on Stanley's combination planes and miter boxes.

The Clamp Guy's wooden clamp journal. A work in progress.

Bob Kaune's Bed Rock type study.

Rick Manderscheid's Workbench Page, a compendium of information on woodworking benches.

Get patent data on an item, based on its patent date and a name, photo or description. $15 for the first, $9 for additional searches in a batch.

The Musical Saw Home Page. 'Nuff said.

Ron Hock's advice on hardening and tempering steel tools.

Steve Johnson's ornamental turning site.

James Harris's ornamental turning page.

Colonial Williamsburg's page on 18th century tools.

Tony Seo's personal page o' lore.

A compilation by Thomas Chimento of rec.woodworking lore on making planes.

Mike Lindgren's excellent adventures in making an infill plane.

Ted Kinsey's recipe for using electrolysis to remove rust from old tools.

A message archive from the OLDTOOLS mailing list.

John Gunterman's compendium of lore, including his instructions on making a spokeshave.

See also Tom Price's considerable ruminations on life as a tool fiend, along with some factual lore on plane patents.

Wood

TreeGuide (formerly TreeWeb); detailed information on North American trees.

The International Wood Collectors Society.

What Tree Is It?, an interactive guide to identifying the common trees of Ohio.

Windsor Plywood's searchable wood properties database.

Woods of the World, a multimedia database product. Can't use it online, but you can buy it. They've also started a "wood of the week" page.

Richard Muldoon's very nice table of wood properties.

British Trees, a source of information on (you guessed it) British trees. Also has pointers to related information.

A table of wood toxicity.

How-To

Windsor Chair Resources; like it says.

Sal Marino's veneering and finishing page.

Dave Weisbord's advice on French polishing.

Bill Judt's tips on woodcarving techniques.

The Triangle Wood Turners of North Carolina have a collection of how-to articles.

Finishing tips from Liberon/Star.

The rec.woodworking Woodbending FAQ.

Ted Kinsey's OLDTOOLS note on bending big pieces of wood.

Okay, it's not woodworking, but it doesn't get much more Neanderthal than Walter Arnold's stone carving page.

Schools

Drew Langsner's Country Workshops: a variety of courses on traditional woodcraft, with an emphasis on chairmaking. (schedule)

John Alexander's greenwoodworking shop, offering classes on guess what. (schedule)

The North Bennet Street School is a traditional training ground for professional craftspeople.

Marc Adams School of Woodworking: hosts a variety of courses by celebrity woodworkers, including a number of the hand-powered persuasion. (schedule)

Peter Korn's Center For Furniture Craftsmanship: a neat assortment of courses, including many of the usual celebrity instructors. (schedule)

College of the Redwoods, home of James Krenov.

Tillers International offers classes on blacksmithing, woodworking and a variety of farming skills. (schedule)

Tod Herrli teaches short classes on making planes and furniture in Marion, IN. (schedule)

The Furniture Society's list of furniture programs.

Gary Rogowski's Northwest Woodworking Studio.

Bruce Luckhurst runs a school in England teaching furniture building, finishing and restoration.

Woodworkers

An unsystematic collection of interesting pages belonging to individual woodworkers.

Carl Muhlhausen

Paddy O'Deen

Ryohei Miyamoto

Robin Wood recreates historic treenware in the UK.

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