WELCOME...

to John's Shop.

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Please note:
My ISP (now Comcast) has changed again, and informs me that this web site and address are scheduled to cease functioning on May 30, 2008.
I have not yet decided whether it will be re-established elsewhere or not. I no longer have the time to properly maintain the site, and quite frankly, I'm tired of my ISP being bought or sold every few years, and being forced to go through a whole new start-up. If the site IS re-established, it will not be through an ISP-provided domain, but rather will be hosted on a privately owned domain... probably with my last name as part of the domain name.
If you like, you can probably reach me for the next few weeks at the email address listed on this page. If that doesn't work, try "jpaquay at comcast dot net" or "jpaquay at comcast dot com".

I'm John Paquay, and I've been at least knee-deep in sawdust since I was 8 years old, when I stole the wheels off my sister's roller skates, fired up my dad's band saw and built myself a skate board.
Over the years my skills were refined somewhat, and I was first employed as a Master Cabinetmaker in 1980.

One quick note: You'll find no commercial advertising here - no banner ads, no popups, nothing to distract from your browsing experience. I get nothing in return for any of these links. If it doesn't deserve to be here on its own merits, it's not here.
Hopefully you'll find something of interest here. If not, or if you have questions, feel free to send me . Sometimes I'm a little slow, but I eventually answer almost all of it...

You can jump straight to my Gallery pages from here.
Or visit The South Wind to find out more about me, Lafayette (Indiana) links, and my Virago stuff.

Concerned about the hazards associated with woodworking? Then before you go any further, Click this link for an in-depth report by Michael McCann, Ph.D., C.I.H. and Angela Babin, M.S. A wood toxicity table is included.

If you've ever considered Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets, but thought it was too big a job, you owe it to yourself to get the straight scoop. You might be surprised. CLICK HERE for details.

Woodworking Tips, Tricks, and Procedures: (always under construction -- check back often...)

• Building your own kitchen cabinets.
• How to achieve an incredible hand-rubbed oil finish.
• Finishing oak and other open-grained woods.
• About glue squeeze-out...
• What's wrong with my jointer?
• Dealing with dull carbide.
• Freeing frozen screws.
• What size screw is this, anyway?
• What's the best finish to use on a cutting board??
• A frequently asked question is, "How do I calculate the compound cutting angles for making hopper boxes or staved barrels?" Here's a spreadsheet file which will do it for you. Just download and unzip Hoppers.zip. The zip file is only 33k, and includes formats for Microsoft Excel and Quattro Pro.

Links, Links, and More Links... Below are some of my favorite sites and businesses related to woodworking:

Woodworking related sites:

• WoodCentral -- A very nicely arranged and well thought-out site with lots of information for the taking.
• Fine Woodworking Magazine On-Line -- Need I say more?
• WoodWeb Home Page -- You could spend a couple of hours here easily.
• Woodworking.com -- Formerly the 'Woodworking Catalog', this is a very good woodworking reference site.
• Usenet Woodworking forum -- Speaks for itself, doesn't it?
• Woodbooks -- Reference Heaven.
• The Oak Factory -- Sounds like a commercial site, but the site owner isn't trying to sell anything. excellent references and links, though, and you can sign up to join their mailing list/discussion forum or browse woodworkers' classified ads. One of the oldest sites on the WWW (almost as old as this one).

Lumber, Machinery, Tools, and Materials Sources: (still in alphabetical order... amazing!)

• Advantage Lumber -- A large variety of sensibly priced American and exotic woods in any quantity.
• Badger Hardwoods of Wisconsin -- A great selection of American hardwoods at reasonable prices.
• Berea Hardwoods -- I'm not sure whether Jim Heusinger is still running this operation, but as recently as a few years ago, he had one of the best mail order lumber outlets in the U.S., as far as I'm concerned. Berea now seems to be focused on materials and supplies for the wooden pen turning market.
• BladeMaster Leather Hones -- Ever wonder why barbers use leather strops to sharpen razors? Find out how your edge tools can be razor sharp.
• Constantine's -- If these folks aren't a standard in the woodworking supply biz, I don't know who is.
• Delta International Machinery Corp. -- Delta on the WWW. Pinch yourself.
• FormWood Industries, Inc. -- Located near Louisville in Jeffersonville, Indiana, Formwood has an incredible selection of quality veneers and specialty veneer products.
• Goby Walnut Products -- The champagne of woods. Get some today. Then be very nice to it.
• Gougeon Brothers, Inc. -- Manufacturers of high-quality West System epoxies and associated products. Excellent stuff, great support.
• Grizzly Industrial, Inc. -- Still looking for machinery and accessories? Grizzly might be worth a look.
• Hearne Hardwoods -- Formerly the second half of Groff & Hearne Lumber, Hearne Hardwoods has first class lumber and terrific service.
• Highland Hardware -- A lot more than just hardware. My highest recommendation. Say "Hi" to Chris for me.
• Hydrocote Finishing Products, Inc. -- State of the art waterborne finishes and a very informative WWW site.
• International Tool Corp. -- This is almost like a trip to Disneyland, without Goofy and Mickey.
• The Japan Woodworker -- If you like working with authentic Japanese hand tools, they've got 'em all.
• Jesada Tools -- Jesada has built a good reputation as a cutting tool manufacturer/supplier, as well as a loyal following of satisfied customers.
• Keller Dovetail System -- One of the simplest and most flexible machine-dovetailing systems available. Definitely among the most precise.
• Lee Valley Tools (&Veritas) -- Get over there, order your catalog, and pick up some good info at the same time. Now featuring online ordering!
• Lie-Nielsen Toolworks -- Beautiful, handmade, heirloom-quality planes and chisels. Not inexpensive, but you just have to see them to believe. Online ordering (will this party never end?).
• McFeely's Square Drive Screws -- Fasteners you can swear by instead of at.
• McMaster-Carr -- Not really so much woodworking-related as industrial and hardware-related, but McMaster-Carr stocks everything from anvils to perforated metals to Z-clips. They have one of the best online ordering systems on the WWW and very fast shipping. If you're looking for anything unusual, they'll probably have it.
• Midwest Dowel Works, Inc. -- Dowels in about a dozen different wood species, as well as other specialized wood products. If you need a dowel, they can probably supply it, in large or small quantities.
• Mike's Workshop. -- A true scrollsawing guru, some people will use nothing but the Flying Dutchman scrollsaw blades Mike offers.
• Niagara Lumber & Wood Products, Inc. -- I haven't ordered anything from them yet, but I have their price list stuck to my refrigerator door.
• Odie White Machinery -- Purveyor of quality used woodworking machines. With a name like 'Odie', he has to be good.
• Porter-Cable Corp. -- One of my personal favorite tool companies. View their complete catalog on-line, and find out where to buy these great American tools.
• Powermatic -- As if Delta on the Web wasn't cool enough. I told you this www thing was for real...
• Rockler Woodworking and Hardware -- Formerly The Woodworkers' Store. I've done business with these folks for many years. A class act, for sure.
• Seven Corners Hardware (Tools On Sale) -- Another of the best. A great selection of quality tools, machinery, accessories. Great service and low prices.
• Toolseeker -- Toolseeker seems to be the 'Pricewatch.com' of power tools. This nice site will track down internet prices of your favorite tools and machinery. It worked like a champ when I tried it.
• Tool Crib of the North -- One of the best I've ever dealt with. Quality tools, machinery, accessories, and great service. Now affiliated with Amazon.com.
• Tool King -- I have not yet done any business with this company, but their selection and prices still make them worth a look.
• U.S. Plastic Corp. -- Admit it. Sometimes plastics are the only right material for the job. Anything you want you can find here.
• Woodcraft Supply Corp. -- Lots of good toys and good tools, since 1928.
• WoodFinishingSupplies.com -- Russ Ramirez runs this web storefront, offering almost anything you might need in terms of finishing supplies. (Note that this is not the same site as the Liberon site with a similar name...)
• Woodworkers Hardware -- Screws, cabinet hardware, drawer slides... you name it, it's probably here.

CAD and design-related sites:

• AutoDesk, Inc. -- AutoCAD and related software.
• Cadkey, Inc. -- Cadkey software.
• Cadalyst Magazine -- Since Cadalyst swallowed up Cadence Magazine, they are the surely the definitive AutoCAD resource.
• Sheet Layout -- a nice piece of shareware that helps optimize cutting of sheet stock. It will even create cut lists, track costs, calculate yields, and let you specify grain directions.

Other interesting resources and useful stuff:

• The U.S. Forest Products Laboratory -- There's no end to the information available here. Get it right from the source. You can also jump straight to the USFPL Wood Handbook -- Wood as an Engineering Material. 463 pages of info in html and pdf form.
• Color Theory and Mixing Stains or Dyes for the Woodworker and Furniture Finisher -- If you're a bit color-challenged, you'll find this article from Wood Finish Supply (Liberon) a small gold mine of information.
• The D&S Scary Sharp System -- Ready for a few good laughs? Check out this site for Steve LaMantia's informative, yet hilarious excursion into an alternate tool sharpening method.
• The Steambending FAQ -- Gregg Germain's FAQ will get you bending over backwards in no time.
• SteveWeb Woodworking -- Steve Goldstein is a self-proclaimed woodworking noob who offers a nicely done website which presents a great fresh perspective into woodworking. Watch his progress and learn with him. (He won't be able to call himself a beginner for long...)
• The Museum of Woodworking Tools -- Sometimes older really is better. It's definitely interesting.
• Falcon-Wood Tools -- Old, classic, and collectible tools. Take your nitro before you check some of those prices, though.
• The Hometime Home Page -- There's lots of good information here, and Dean Johnson is almost a former neighbor of mine. Well, yes, everything IS relative...
• Black & Decker, Inc. -- You tell me whether this site deserves to be here or not...
• U-Convert-It is a cool shareware program that handles all sorts of unit conversions with ease. A very nice, very handy little program!
• The Woodright's Shop -- The net home of Roy Underhill, the real hardest working guy in television.

In memory of Paul Radovanic; Thanks for being there, Paul. You are sorely missed.

me with your comments, suggestions, links, or your favorite joke...

John E. Paquay
jpaquay_at_insightbb_d0t_com

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This page was last updated on October 25, 2007