Monday, May 30, 2005

Fine Woodworking Magazine

I am a great fan if Fine Woodworking Magazine. I began subscribing in 1987 and have saved almost all copies since then. It is a great resource for serious woodworking, and covers both the basics of woodworking and very advanced topics as well. Its biggest disadvantage is that it is still mired firmly in the 20th century as far as the web is concerned.

Though it has an extensive web presence, the on-line index to old issues is pathetic. Today I needed to locate an article about a piece I'm making and I have lost contact with my copy of the particular issue involved. I knew the subject and several key words involved, but try as I might, I couldn't get FWW's web site to find the article. (The main key I was looking for was "line-and-berry", a type of inlay used in the piece. FWW couldn't find any articles with those words.) In frustration, I tried a Googlesearch of the entire web for "line-and-berry inlay", and lo, on the first page was a reference to this site which lists the contents of every issue of FWW and can be searched for key words with Windows' search function. I quickly found the article I needed.

Taking advantage of the "Dirty Little Secret of the Web" (everything you see on the web is already on your computer), I saved the index to my Woodworking folder, so searching the next time I need something should be much easier.

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