Regular Hand Tool Chat this evening 9:30 p.m. EST

Re: Chat Survey???

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Tonight we discussed a couple of topics I picked and a couple of topics brought up by other people: Searching for Moxon, Historical practices of rough sawing stock by sawyers for cabinetmakers, Stones and grinders, and Techniques for hardening steel. In general, the conversations flowed in and out, sometimes simultaneously.

Which topics did you find most interesting? Less so? Did we cover what we discussed to your satisfaction? Did we leave anything hanging that you need an answer to?

Do you find the difficulties of keeping track of multiple simultaneous topics easy or difficult? distracting or stimulating? About how many threads can you usually juggle in your head at the same time?

What would you like to talk about next time? If you didn't have anything to say or any questions to ask, did you enjoy tonight's conversation, anyhow?

Another problem I note is that if you join late, unlike a forum where you can always go back and read the history, you have no access to anything that was said before you logged in. So, don't be late, or you won't have a clue what is going on.

I hope I keep you entertained, if nothing else.

Pleas provide suggestions, up front, for future chats. We'll try to be prepared, but we won't necessarily discuss your issues if you don't bring them up when you get to the chatroom, and keep the momentum up.

Hope to see you next week.

Re: Chat Survey???

David Barnett

>Multiple concurrent conversational topics don't bother me whatsoever, but I'm somewhat mercurial that way. I can imagine it might be altogether different for others. I'm apt to move between a couple main window conversations and a few running private windows in 'real' IRC chats (with the mIRC client), which brings up a major peeve: the pesky little window in the WC chat applet makes it tres difficult to scan when you use the X-large typefaces (which I must). Not much text fits on the screen and scrolling is awkward. But I can manage, I suppose. At least I've not been plagued with lag and splits on the WC applet. If others find participating in a multi-topic cocktail-party paradigm too confusing or daunting, I'd have no trouble with you directing traffic, William. At any rate, I enjoyed the last few chats in which I've participated. I should perhaps apologize. I'm so used to teaching/mentoring in my several nonwoodworking crafts that I tend to shotgun ideas, tips, where and what to buy, and so on, and as I type fairly fast, may flood the main channel from time to time. I will not be insulted if reminded that I've already excessively answered any questions put to me.

Hey Dave

Dan Donaldson

>Have you tried expanding the screen in the chatroom? If you click on one of the icons at the bottom, it will make the chat window into a floating one that can then be expanded to full screen. At that point, you can make the fonts any size you like and have it still fit on the screen. The little hammer icon will open the tools menu and you can enable heartbeat there so that you don't get knocked off if you don't post often enough.

It Works! Thank you, thank you.

David Barnett

>I had tried this early on and had problems with it, but I'd forgotten to use this when I upgraded my system and doubled my CPU speed. Duh! How ignorant I can be! Several times a day, in fact.

So now it seems to work just fine. They say the mind's the second thing to go, and the first isn't necessarily the eyes, heh.

The heartbeat's the first thing I set when I log onto chat. That only took me a few months to get down, haha.

Again, thank you.

And another chat apology...

David Barnett

>To whomever privately messaged me during the handtools chat three weeks back (I think it was) about optics/magnifiers for woodworking, toolmaking & maintenance, and so on...

I couldn't copy or save the window contents and lost your email address. As I remember, you wanted to know about diopter/power and daylight bulbs (color temperature, sources, etc.). Please feel free to email me and I'll try to answer your specific questions and send you a copy of my workshop handout on magnifiers when I can port it from my old Mac HD and update it somewhat (lots of new stuff). Again, sorry.

Re: And another chat apology...

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I think that's a problem with the Chat software, or maybe Java, not your fault, David. I find that if I try to go off and do something else, like research a topic in another browser window, I lose the chat window, especially if I have expanded the window. That is a particular embarrassment if I'm supposed to be moderating, since I might lose a few minutes of action while I kick the computer around and then reinitialize the Chat window.

Re: Chat Survey???

Brad in Ottawa

>William,

Last night was the first general hand tool chat that I attended... unfortunately I got called away abruptly.

I mainly lurked but it was a great opportunity to learn about some topics that have come up over the past week. (i.e. reading lists and Moxon.)

It is possible to ask follow up questions on the messageboards but in a chat format questions can be spontaneous and more closely resemble a conversation. A real positive.

Further to that I think it is a great opportunity to ask questions of your peers without having to worry about it being permanantly posted on a forum. (i.e. how do I stretch a tenon?)

Keep up the good work... I know that I will make a few more of these chats now that I have been to one!

Brad

PS - One suggestion could be to recap the weekly hot topic. A pretty obvious one but the one most likely to generate discussion.

Great idea!

Jack Guzman from Maine

>I also like that idea. Rehash a hot topic from the daily discussions during the week.(One that doesn't end badly that is).---Jack

Re: Great idea!

Bob Hackett

>That would be a good thing for people like myself who type with 2 fingers and look at the keyboard while we do.

One of the reasons you don`t see me at the chats is that I can`t keep up.By the time I`ve typed the reply the message I was answering is long gone.

Before you suggest it,Mavis Beacon and I don`t get along.

Mainely,Bob

Re: Great idea!

Mike G.

>Don't feel bad Bob...I'm a two finger typer also, but I've gotten pretty fast at it. :)

Mike G.

two fingers!

Jack Guzman from Maine

>I only use one. Sometimes it's fun just watching the chats.You can't watch if you're not there though.---Jack

Re: Chat Survey???

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I'm glad you enjoyed the experience. I hope you'll come back.

Recapping the main topic is a good idea. Often, after the chat is over, I wish I had turned on the recording before the chat started, for just that reason. But then, I have the additional responsibility of deciding what is really important, not inadvertently leaving out anything that someone else felt was important (a major faux pas), and of course changing the names to protect the innocent.

I guess I should turn the recording on first and then decide later whether to send it to the bit bucket or rework it.

There is nothing keeping anyone from posting their own summary of a topic they think was important, on the regular forum, adding additional commentary, questions or answers.

Interestingly (or not, depending on your point of view :^), the discussion on hardening tool steel was a continuation of a discussion from the chat of two weeks ago, again mostly between David and myself. I learned some more critical follow-up information today from Jack Ervin, via e-mail. If and when I get this process down, I'll let everyone know.

Re: Chat Survey???

Alan Bierbaum

>Sorry for the late comment; but I have just finished three 12 hr work days. So much for being semi-retired !

I can usually keep track of two topics at the same time. It really depends on how many people are taking part in the conversations. With a small group, like last time, it is easy to keep up with two conversations; and actually learn from both.