Joel's Blog

Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero --- and Tools for Working Wood?

08/01/2018

We are delighted when folks visiting New York take the time to come out to see Tools for Working Wood in person. Good thing we do, because especially in summer, we get many folks visiting.

We are not so easy to find. We're at the end of a dead end block. Our neighbor is a rusty wall that so screams "Grit!" that it was used as a backdrop for a photo shoot for the rock band Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. We try to welcome visitors with a glass of iced tea this time of year, and if we have some cookies we share them too.

Our visitors typically fall into one of several groups:

Long term customers who have bought online and now find themselves in New York. Most of these customers are from the US. "Visiting my kid in Brooklyn" is often the reason for the visit from all over the US.

Eagle-eyed woodworkers who find us via Google Maps. We're grateful for all the nice things people have said about us on Yelp, but amazingly Google Maps - and the key word "Woodworking" in our name - has probably brought us more people.

Pilots squeezing us in during a layover at JFK. We're honored!

Dave, our shipping guy (and baker extraordinaire) is particularly excited when woodworkers make the trek from all over the world - Australia, Bolivia, Slovenia, Japan - to come to our shop. Fluency in English is a plus when seeking specialized tools, but it turns out pantomime, sketches, second languages, interpreters and Google Translate have all helped us meet the needs of woodworkers who aren't English speakers.

So we hope you'll stop by in person this summer and say hello. In addition we have some special treats to offer, besides the aforementioned iced tea:

Special events: This Thursday evening we'll be hosting a book signing party (with pinata) for Nancy Hiller. Nancy is a pioneering furniture maker, author and a really fun person. She'll signing copies of English Arts & Crafts Furniture and Making Things Work, sharing anecdotes and encouraging some mayhem with her traveling pinata. We'll have wine, cheese and other snacks. We hope you'll come to our showroom, 112 26th Street, Brooklyn, from 6 - 8 pm. For more information about this party, see here.

Expert advice: Tips on saw sharpening from people who have sharpened hundreds of saws. Advice about which router bit to buy based upon your chicken-scratch drawings of your project. Etc.

Previews of our Planing Stops and other tools: We've actually sold a bunch to different folks who read our newsletter and asked to see them. We don't even have the packaging selected! No matter. They've been seen in action.

Local attractions: Walk up the block to Greenwood Cemetery and visit the final resting grounds of Duncan Phyfe, Leonard Bernstein, Jean Michel Basquiat and other notable New Yorkers. Then have a pastry and espresso at Baked in Brooklyn across from the Cemetery. Then take the subway or ferry to your next destination.

And thanks for visiting!

Join the conversation

08/01/2018 Tom & Connie Conover

Joel,
Visited last Friday (07-27-18) and you gave us a tour of your shop. Thanks for your hospitality and thanks to John (I think) who takes care of shipping and warehouse, for navigation information and insights on your area of Brooklyn.
Thanks,
Tom & Connie
Cincinnati, OH

08/03/2018 Kevin Wilkinson

You forgot to mention that your new location is on the ground floor not up 4 flights of very steep stairs.

08/04/2018 Mike

I lived in Brooklyn from 2006-09, in the then no-mans land between Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO. Now it is basically a theme park over there! Of course, I had no space for a shop then, so woodworking was just a twinkle in my eye. I used to routinely walk to Prospect Park with my toddler children, I see you are about the same distance (3 miles) from my old apartment. so close in distance, yet so far away in time.

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The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the blog's author and guests and in no way reflect the views of Tools for Working Wood.

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