Why The Change?

We have for the past three years or so been posting daily updates of the projects that we are building to a special blog called Daily Shop Notes . Before we started blogging we posted web pages on our site that chronicled our adventures in woodworking, but they didn’t get much traffic. Mostly just the person for whom we were building the piece. We wanted to increase the exposure these efforts got.

The blog is syndicated through a number of RSS feed sources, so people who are looking for woodworking articles – or just blog browsing – come across this far more often. If you are unfamiliar with RSS, CLICK HERE to go to our explanation of this new way to stay informed on a variety of topics.

The blog gets lots of traffic, but very little of that traffic is stopping in to shop with us, they’re just peeking in the window as they walk by. I know this because our web site generates traffic reports that tells me how people are finding our web site, where they are coming from and what they look at when they get here. It does not break it down by individual visitor, so there are no privacy violation issues here, but the How and Where and What are important to a webmaster in determining what’s working and what’s not. The current blog is not. Why is this important?

The whole thing got started as a way to allow our customers to watch as we work. Like a race shop with big plate glass windows that allow fans to see into the shop and watch as the race cars are prepared. But there’s a practical side too. For one thing if the piece we’re working on does not look the way the customer envisioned it, they can bring that to our attention and we can discuss it and make changes during the construction, not after it’s completed. Also, the most common comment we receive from our customers is how much they enjoyed watching their new piece of furniture take shape. Some have said it gave them a much greater sense of appreciation of how fine furniture is built and how much skill and dedication goes into it. That’s a good thing. Too many people think that furniture is made by pressing a button that fires up a machine, feed wood in one end and furniture comes out the other. Maybe it works that way in Taiwan, but not here on Piney Mountain.

While a blog format does a good job of keeping people who are following along on a daily basis informed, those who come by in the middle of a project – or well after its completion – have a terrible time with it because they have to read the thing backwards. By going back to posting construction articles on our own web site, we can offer a home page for each project and separate pages for each day or step of the project. By linking the pages together with PREV and NEXT tabs a viewer can move through a project like flipping the pages of a book. By using the project Home page like the index of a book, a visitor can start his reading at any point. Making access easier will encourage people to view our work, and perhaps convince them that we know what we’re doing and should be entrusted with building *their* special piece of furniture.

So, that’s what we are hoping to accomplish with the changes to our blog. We hope you enjoy it.

Doug & Marie

The buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee

I received the following in an e-mail today and liked it so much I thought I'd share it here.

THE BUZZARD: If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins aflight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

THE BAT: The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash

THE BUMBLEBEE: A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

PEOPLE: In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up!

Sorrow looks back,
Worry looks around,
But faith looks up!
Live simply,
Love generously,
Care deeply,
Speak kindly
And trust in our Creator Who loves us.