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    • Nightstand
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Woodworking Links

These are links to various woodworking-related sites and resources that I have found useful and informative. I've done my best to clean up and correct the contents, removing quite a few that had gone obsolete since the list was compiled and adding a few more.

↑ ↓ Catalog and Online Vendors

• Constantine's is an old-line catalog supplier selling tools and general woodworking supplies. They are a great source for exotic (and not-so-exotic) veneers and veneering supplies.
• Craft Supplies USA in Provo, Utah is probably the biggest supplier of turning tools and supplies in the country. They also present turning courses at their on-site facility. This is where I attended a week-long turning course with Richard Raffan—expensive but definitely worth it!
• Packard Woodworks in North Carolina is now probably the equal of Craft Supplies mentioned above. They have tools and materials for the most hard-core turners. Smallish company but they have provided me good service.
• Garrett Wade is a supplier of top-end (primarily hand) tools. Beautiful catalog and, surprisingly enough, their prices are quite competitive with more mass-market suppliers.
• Highland Hardware actually is a hardware store. Or was one before they became a major catalog supplier of woodworking supplies and equipment. They still maintain a physical store in northern Atlanta which is fun to browse if you happen to be in the area. They also offer woodworking and machine classes at this location.
• Homestead Finish Products is the retail outlet of Jeff Jewitt, one of the recognized experts in wood finishing and author of several books and many articles on the subject. An ideal place to buy the items you need to put a real shine on your own projects.
• John Wilson, Boxmaker is probably the best place for anyone interested in making Shaker oval boxes. They will train you, provide the special tools, and sell you the supplies. They also give classes in other traditional woodworking skills such as plane making and joinery.
• Lee Valley Tools and Veritas is a Canadian tool and supply catalog. They have great service and reasonable prices. A gardening catalog is also available.
• Raka is a supplier of epoxy resins and fiberglass supplies, primarily to boatbuilders. I find that epoxy, dyed black, is an attractive way to fill wood voids and knots when actual concealment of their existence is impossible.
• Klingspor, a German manufacturer of sandpaper and abrasives operates this catalog operation that offers some of the best abrasives and associated tools/supplies for woodworkers. Their sanding disks are the best I've found by far.They've now expanded into a full-line woodworking supplier but so far I can only vouch for their abrasives.
• Tool Crib of the North is a catalog vendor of small power tools. They originally supplied industry and building contractors exclusively but they are now a major supplier to hobbyists. Prices are generally quite low. They've been bought out by Amazon.com now -- in theory this shouldn't have too much affect but the concensus seems to be that the service isn't quite up to the old standards. I've used them since the buyout and didn't notice too much of a change.
• The Beall Tool Company is a small manufactuer and seller of rather specialized woodworking tools. They have been known for decades as the maker of the Wood Threader a one-of-a-kind tool for, as the name suggests, cutting threads in wood. Not something you need every day but when you need one your really need one and it isn't something you can do my hand. They also make precision woodturning collets.
• Woodcraft Supply is a major supplier of supplies, tools, and equipment. They sell online, by catalog, and from franchised stores around the country. Prices are sometimes attractive and service is pretty good.
• Amazon.com may seem to be an off-the-wall suggestion for woodworking stuff but they sell an amazing assortment of router bits, saw blades, abrasives and other useful stuff, either directly or through other sellers. It is always worth a look just to check out what they have and what the prices are for comparison.

↑ ↓ Wood Vendors

• Groff & Groff Hardwoods sell a lot of high grade furniture wood.
• Hearne Hardwoods, like Groff & Groff are in a center of fine wood production and sales.
• Talarico Hardwoods is a vendor of wood near Reading, PA. These are the folks that sold me the beautiful big slabs of quartersawn sycamre the turned (eventually) into my dining room table.
• East Tennessee Sawmills is a listing I've compiled of some of the local sawmills which are willing to sell to smaller users of hardwoods. If you want inexpensive wood and are willing and able to surface and prepare rough wood for your projects, this might be a good place to look.

↑ ↓ Information Resources

• Geoff's Woodwork is a site in England which contains "Resources to promote interest and learn : woodwork, furniture, cabinet making, foundation subjects of carpentry & joinery and provide help for students to understand basic and advanced Woodwork techniques and theory to get qualified." as they say on the site. I haven't had time yet to go through the considerable collection of information but what I've seen so far looks to be quite useful.
• Amateur Woodworker is a monthly online magazine offering ideas and plans for amateur woodworkers. Most of the projects are usable by those without major shop facilities. Sadly, this web site has been untouched for a very long time -- the first sign of site death.
• WoodCentral is a great place to go for woodworking information and conversations. They have made available all of the contents of the long-gone but much-loved Badger Pond wooworking website.
• CAD Files for Woodworkers is a site for the sharing of CAD files for woodworking designs. Loren Hutchinson does a great job with this site and has even published a couple of my designs which he drew up himself from photos and measurements.
• The Taunton Press publishes Fine Woodworking magazine as well as woodworking books and videotapes. They often have useful information on their site about equipment tests and comparisons. You can also order their books here although it is far cheaper to get them through Amazon.com.
• The Router Workshop is a PBS program which concentrates, as the name would suggest, on the router. The presenters explore a number of non-obvious uses for this versatile tool. Old episodes covering many years and plans are available.
• Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada offers a 3-year program in Wood Products Manufacturing Technology. While I haven't actually taken their course or anything I've decided to include their link here. I guess it was the fact that they actually asked me to do so that got me to do it. That and the fact that their web site seems to reflect some care in what they do. I'm not recommending that you send them money or anything but if you have an interest in wood education you might check them out.

↑ ↓ Woodworking Organizations

I belong, or at least belonged, to three woodworking organizations which is rather surprising since I'm not really a 'joiner'.

• The American Association of Woodturners is the first group I joined. Has thousands of members around the world and sponsors a symposium every year in a different geographical area in the USA.
• The East Tennessee Woodworkers Guild is an organization of professional and amateur woodworkers of all sorts. A great resource for anyone.
• The Smoky Mountain Woodturners is a local chapter of the AAW. I belonged to this group for a while but since their meetings were being held on weekends in a tourist-saturated town many miles away I finally dropped out. It appears that they are now meeting monthly in Knoxville so I might even check out joining again.