Hi folks! Sincerest apologies for not having posted much lately. Lots of stuff has been getting in the way of woodworking lately. I have several things in the oven and will get back to the regularly scheduled programming asap.

One of those things has been the next version of The Woodshop Widget, and I’m very happy to say that it’s live! What’s new, you ask? I seriously have to go look at my list. It’s massive.

First off, the database has been expanded to 288 species. This now includes “common names,” specific gravity (density), Janka (hardness) and shrinkage information in varying amounts. This information comes from verifiable sources, primarily the USDA Forest Service. So you might find some holes here and there, and that generally means that the information only showed up in one place, and is not verifiable. There’s a lot of misinformation out there folks, be careful!

Comparison
Thanks to the new range of info, there’s a fun new tool for comparing species of wood based on these attributes. You can walk through sets of wood in 2 selectors that live side-by-side, and let the Widget tell you which is “better” based on hardness, shrinkage, etc. It’s fun too! As with everything else in the Widget, in the web version you can copy a URL for specific comparisons, and share that with others.

The image shows the iOS version.

Species
A new tool for walking through all of the species in the database, which also lists the common names and the technical info in plain English.

Updates
- The design of Decimal to Fraction has been reworked to be cleaner and clearer, and it now translates whole numbers in both directions
- “Board Feet” is now “Board Volume” and works in metric!
- Squareness has much greater precision
- Various visual design improvements

iOS
All of this stuff has been added to the iOS version, and some deep design changes in that flavor make it much more efficient for walking through lots of different variations of wood. The new wood selector is much more useful, showing scientific names and common names. The graphics have been updated to work with high-resolution displays, and I am told that it looks “sick!” It still works on older iOS devices as well.

The image show the new Wood Picker in use.

There are more details on the iOS-specific changes in the iTunes store. Due to its hugeness, the iOS version is now $3.99. The iOS update is free to paid users, so have fun!

The Wood Whisperer
After discussion of the past and future of the Widget as it relates to TWW, we have decided to remove this stuff from the Widget. I am still a Guild member, a TWW fan, and an admirer of Marc’s impressive t-shirt collection… and Marc will still be using the Widget. It just made sense for both of us; all is well.

All that said, have fun and let me know if you have any questions or issues. There’s more in the works!