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07/19/2017 |
Time flies when you are having fun! Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of my very first blog entry. I started my blog because everyone was doin' it, doin' it and we didn't want to be left out of the blogging trend. Also, we were about to move to Brooklyn from Manhattan and there was a lot of news to report. Over the years I have written on just about every woodworking topic I could fathom. I try not to write about the same thing again and again, but as we all know I do it anyway.
It's been a tremendously rewarding experience for me on several levels. Of course I think the blog helps drive traffic to the website, but on a personal level it's made me a much better writer, gave me an excuse to investigate things I would not normally feel justified to do, and - most importantly - when I write about a subject, I get to think about it in depth, and learning more is very rewarding. It makes me happy when people come up to me and tell me that they read my blog. If you write and people read your stuff - it's a perfect world, and what more can you ask for.
The biggest problem I have today is that my time is limited and I don't have the luxury of research that I used to. That being said, I like to think woodworking is an broad subject and I've only scratched the surface. I would be remiss it telling you that up to a few years ago I pretty much wrote every word of the blog, with help from Sally, my wife, to make sure the grammar wasn't embarrassing. However in the past few years Sally has come to the rescue on more than one attempt and ghosted a fair number of entries. I think the rule of thumb is, if the spelling is good and the writing compelling, it's a good bet that she had a real hand in authorship. I don't feel bad about this - I feel wonderful that I get such support from my family. Nobody works in a vacuum, and magazines have staff.
I do have a request: if you have a favorite entry, or a post you remember fondly, I would love to find out about it. Maybe we will do a "Greatest Hits" page.
Thanks again for all your support.
- Joel
PS Even as I look back to 10 years of blogging, I'm looking forward to July 29th, when master luthier Ian Kelly will be visiting our Brooklyn showroom and carving Spanish Cedar into the neck of a guitar. He'll be using a Gramercy Tools rasp, a spokeshave and sandpaper, and of course his own skill. We hope folks in the NYC area will stop by and you are all invited! Ian will be there from 1 - 5 pm.
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Which was over 7 years ago; amazing, where did the time go? Regardless, it helped me better understand what was happening, and some of the subtleties of old tool designs.
I always enjoy this blog. I have a few favorites, visits to muséums with furniture, architecture in NYC, a series about a very old book or newspaper articles about woodworking, your "new" milling machine and lathe, among a few. Looking forward to the next years!
I am a long-time customer and always enjoy your posts to the blog. As a Texas resident, I will probably never get to your store in Brooklyn. It might be fun to see pictures and to hear a brief history of your store. Please excuse me if you have already written about that.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Mike
Congrats on 10 years and hope there will be many more. I really wish you would set up some live feeds for your in store classes for us out of staters.
the blog I liked best was the two pieces on Chris Pye and carving. Just the narrative of how you went about it and made mistakes and corrections. Very helpful. Thank you
joe clark
Thanks for all you do!
Jeff
Cheers!
Marge
Congratulations on the milestone. I have enjoyed your blog for the past few years. I will be visiting the Sam and Alfreda Maloof museum in September and will fondly remember some of the articles written here as I try to Figure out how Sam did his work.
Ariel