Rough Wood

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!

Life has really gotten in the way of woodworking in the last month, but will give way to much more woodworking in the coming months. I suddenly find myself with some temporary “shop” space (a small room), no car, and some energy/creativity/angst/brain juice to burn. As you may have noticed by now, no obstacle is too great for me when I am determined.

Today marked my first trip to my hardwood dealer to get stock for small projects that will help to keep me occupied as I gear up to finally tackle my tool cabinet project. The good news is that I will also be networked in my “shop” and will be streaming my progress, if anyone’s interested. I’ll set up a link here in case anyone wants to pop in.

Back to the quickie, an example of determination follows: If you suddenly find yourself without a car, without a real shop, without a pep squad, and with a deep need to make some stuff, what do you do? Do you give up and sit around and watch TV? Do you complain that it’s too much trouble? Do you *assume* that it’s too much trouble? Or do you cowboy up and make it happen? I generally choose to cowboy up.

Here I am getting ready to hop on my bike to go get some walnut, complete with a ryoba sticking out of my bike courier bag. I call this “urban samurai woodworker.”

I managed to get 10′ of rough-cut walnut back home on my bike:

Incidentally, the walnut is for some small speaker stands, which may or may not double as floor lamps. Maybe there’s another post in that, but I’m still tinkering.

The point is: soldier on, friends. Life is unpredictable. Find your center, find your way, and don’t let anyone or anything get in your way.

Side note: I got a chance to use The Woodshop Widget for the first time at the hardwood dealer where I was originally inspired to build it, and it was pretty awesome…