Forum activity

[silentC]

Maybe too many of the 102 spend too much time making hot air instead of sawdust.

So most people lurk instead of getting involved.

But then again somewhat similar proportions of members lurk in most of the online forums.

Speaking for myself, I would spend a lot more time making sawdust if I didn't have to come to work every day. In fact you'd probably only hear from me every now and then. Unfortunately, I have to sit here for 8 hours a day and hanging around here makes for a bit of light entertainment while I'm working for the man.

[journeyman Mick]

Speaking for myself, I would spend a lot more time making sawdust if I didn't have to come to work every day. In fact you'd probably only hear from me every now and then. Unfortunately, I have to sit here for 8 hours a day and hanging around here makes for a bit of light entertainment while I'm working for the man.

When/if I'm working for the man I make lots of sawdust. Unfortunately there's sawdust making and there's Sawdust Making, even when I'm working for myself (i.e. a client) there's a lot of pretty mundane sawdust produced, but then, that's life - it isn't all beer and skittles .

Mick (who's about to go down to the shed and produce metal swarf whilst fabricating a splitter)

[LineLefty]

I was a lurker for a fair while, probably about 2 days before a posted!

In all seriousness though, theres a common thread passing through this forum that people who are novices think they have nothing to contribute. I think this is completely ridiculous. Fopr a number of reasons:

1) One of the main purposes of this forum is as a repository of knowledge. Need to know what finish to use on a chopping board? it's here. Want to find out the best plane to start with? Maybe a run down on the realities of scary sharp. It's all here. And who do you think asked those questions? Novices.

2) There is a lot of assumed knowledge in any instructions/plans that you buy or read on the internet. They're all written by experienced woodworkers. Many, many valuable contributions have been made by people who are learning the craft and sharing their experiences as they go along. Problems they encounter - and solutions - that everyone faces yet are so obvious to the encumbent "masters" that the'yre over looked. Examples - Bevel up or bevel down on a block plane? Cutting a through mortice from both sides, How to use a saw to cut half blind dovetail pins, how to actually use a honing guide, what if the bench grinder isnt as wide as the blade? etc etc

3) You often see fantastic answers from novices because they are stiil dealing with cheaper equipment/tools and learning from their mistakes at a very fast rate. Want to know what tablesaw to buy? I bet some of the best advice will come from those beginners who are struggling to get good cuts from a cheapy. Sure the 2 Tonne Jet ubermonster will be great but thats not much help, nor is a $800 Beismeyer fence. (Surely thats just a picture in a catalogue, nobody buys that..do they?)

So lurkers, lurk all you want, but please dont think that as a novice you have nothing to offer. If you do a search and some blindingly frustrating question remains unanswered ask it!

By the way, how DO you cut the pins with a saw in a half blind dovetail?

[silentC]

Right on Adam!

BTW To cut half blind dovetail pins, one tip I've seen is to file the first inch or so of teeth from your tenon/dovetail saw. You then saw diagonally to give you the lines on the face and the edge, then position the tip of the saw in the cut and tap it down with a mallet to complete the cut. Haven't tried it myself but sounds like it would do the job.

[craigb]

Another method I've read about is to use an old cabinet scraper with a mallet to complete the cut. Like Darren, I haven't tried it myself

[outback]

I've seen the cabinet scraper proposed, they didn't mention an old one. Seemed to be a bit risky on a nice newly burnished one. :eek:

[Wood Borer]

Chisels work OK for me. I would be reluctant to touch my handsaws with a hammer or mallet let alone file off some teeth. The idea no doubt works but I shudder to think how well the belted tools would work afterwards.

I could be wrong because I have never tried it.

- Wood Borer

[DarrylF]

thats not much help, nor is a $800 Beismeyer fence. (Surely thats just a picture in a catalogue, nobody buys that..do they?)

I did Had one for a couple years now.

[ubeaut]

Just to add a couple of stats.
104 over 100
164 over 50
360 over 20
540 over 10
and 70 over 5
the rest have 5 or less posts

Of those there are:
140 with 4 posts
250 with 3 posts
410 with 2 posts
630 with 1 post
and the stranges number of all.......

1815 members with 0 posts.

Go figure.

Me thinks it may have something to do with a major glitch or 2 a year or so ago as there are a lot of members on 1 post who going by the stats made their last post 1 Jan 1970. Same with a lot of the zero posters.

Cheers - Neil

PS some of the figures may be out either way by a couple just went to the nearest 10 with the count. :eek:

[Driver]

Adam (LineLefty) has got it right. Some of the most informative threads on this BB have been launched by a novice asking a simple question. (I know, because on several occasions, I was that novice!)

As a consequence, many of us have learnt a great deal. Imagine the alternative scenario: a group of contributors who are all experienced, highly competent woodworkers. They would never need to ask each other questions. Novices joining that kind of forum would never learn a thing and wouldn't hang around.

The mix of experience, expertise and competence on the one hand and inexperience and a desire to learn on the other, mixed up with a common enthusiasm is what makes this BB work so well. Aside, that is from the undercurrent of daft jokes and general - highly welcome - silliness!

Col (still learning!)

[Rocker]

Neil,

Could you clarify the a point concerning the stats you gave? When you say 164 people with more than 50 posts, does that include the 104 people with over 100 posts, or not? Did you mean 164 people with between 50 and 100 posts? The anally retentive need to know.

Rocker

[GeoffS]

It is great that so many people use this forum BUT it can be a problem.
I've been busy and it has been 5 days since I logged on. I found a mere 15 pages (!!) of new posts. I am still not that UNbusy!
Sometimes one just has to be a lurker or just use the forum to look-up information.
What I would like would be a 'new threads' (not just 'new posts') tab. Would make a quick login more useful.
Despite all that - it is an immensely useful forum and even when not useful - FUN.
Cheers

[DaveInOz]

I would be interested to know how many unique hits this site gets in a month, and how many users hit twice (or more) in the one month.
probably not available but I think it would be a good indicator of forum activity.

[Neil]

Rocker - The figures for over 5 posts are cumulative. A total all up of 610 with over 5 posts. ie: 104 over 100, 60 over 50, 196 over 20 etc etc.

The figures for over 4 posts are exact give or take a couple ie: 140 with 4, 250 with 3, etc.

DaveInOz - figures for individual hits are around 2.5 million per month, total hits are more than 10 times that number on an average month. Our stats are not working at the moment, something has gone bung but these are average figures.

It seems like a hell of a lot of people visiting the forums but in actual fact around 70% of hits are on the Forum Archives rather than the Forums proper, these are almost exclusively because of search engine enquiries. Around 20% of all individual hits are from search engines spidering the forums. Most of the people that visit the Archives never come on to the full forums, and from memory about 60% of them are unique users who either do not return or have had their first encounter with the site.

Might be able to get a bit more info when the stats are up and running again.

Cheers - Neil

[craigb]

[B]
It seems like a hell of a lot of people visiting the forums but in actual fact around 70% of hits are on the Forum Archives rather than the Forums proper, these are almost exclusively because of search engine enquiries. Around 20% of all individual hits are from search engines spidering the forums. Most of the people that visit the Archives never come on to the full forums, and from memory about 60% of them are unique users who either do not return or have had their first encounter with the site.

Might be able to get a bit more info when the stats are up and running again.

Cheers - Neil

Very interesting.
One thing I've noticed is how often a forum thread will come up in the results of a Google search for woodwork info.

Craig