FOG black book of Tips & Tricks?

[James Watriss]

I was reading a post in the wish list section about using clamps, and someone mentioned that using binder clamps was an old school FOG trick. And it got me thinking.

Call me old fashioned. I love the open-ness of a forum like this, but there's something about having a book handy... I wonder if there's enough info in the archives to put together an FOG book of tips and tricks. Proceeds to support the website, of course.

How much stuff is lurking in the archives that would be worth the price of our own book? Lord knows the officially produced Festool books were damn near useless...

Am I alone?

 

[woodguy7]

Sounds good to me.  I never seem to be able to find stuff  [embarassed]

 

[Steve R]

James,

I think you have a good idea.  Being that this is a web based forum...publishing first "Black Book"to the web, as it would be very dynamic for a period of time might be a start.

There are a lot of things here that are helpful. But this site being a very friendly and somewhat social site... there can be a lot of posts to wade through to get the "meat of the issue".  As we all know there is fact and then there is opinion.  [big grin]

There is another topic going about the 32mm system that could take up books by itself.

A lot would be gained here if someone would just distill the current threads and combine related topics... but first you have to define what are related topics...  

Anyway good idea but it is a huge project.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Brice Burrell]

.....A lot would be gained here if someone would just distill the current threads and combine related topics... but first you have to define what are related topics....... 

Cheers,
Steve

I'm thinking along this same sort of line myself.  I think a locked thread like Forrest's links but with a list of links covering the most common question and tips.

I had an impressive collection of bookmarked links to my favorite FOG threads but I lost them in a dead hard drive.  So, you guys might want to start book marking anything you find useful or interesting.  Most browsers make sorting and organizing a breeze so you can find them easily.   

 

[James Watriss]

I'm almost thinking a separate discussion area might work, with separate threads on favorite tips for specific tools, tasks, etc. So, one thread for LR-32, one on 32mm, etc. One for simple tips, etc... And if you're not sure where your ideas fit in, add a separate thread.

It is a social site, but I think individual discussion areas are pretty good about sticking to the point. (ie, problems, jigs, wish lists don't GENERALLY get cross-contaminated... Much. If we're coming up with a list of good solutions and practices, it'll cut out some of the chatter, since we're not trying to arrive at only one solution, but to provide an array of thoughts/ solutions/ creative approaches that have proven themselves.

The real challenge that I see is editorial deadlines. I don't mind doing some of the summary/ re-writing, but having set close dates on some threads would help as each chapter gets wrapped up... No never-ending threads! We've all had clients like that... 'Oh, wait... I forgot'

Maybe set up some of the bigger threads as contests? 'Best tip/ explanation of _____, within the next 6 weeks gets a FOG Black Book T-shirt in a mini-sys, or something like that. (Logistical details pending) Your own ideas, or excavated from the archives, don't care. Write it up, or find and back-link it.

I bought my first Festool (C12) 4 years ago. Some of you have been at this since way before that, back when it was a yahoo message group. So, I say we crowd-source the research... And the rest, for that matter. I'll pitch in on the ghost-writing/ re-writing.

*PUNT*

 

[Alan m]

i like the idea of the black book. it seams like a lot of work

another idea .a english to jmb speak translator book [wink] [poke]

 

[peter halle]

It would be great to do something to provide a guiding device to helpful links, but I think that there might be some issues in accomplishing this.  Please don't consider me a nay sayer or anti-idea guy.  I am stating my opinions and thoughts only.

1.  Huge amount of work.
2.  Constantly changing
3.  The selection of what are ideas to include is subjective.
4.  Publishing anything more than links might run into copyright issues.

Like I said, I love ideas and encourage them.  Keep ideas flowing!

Peter

 

[Melrabie]

The idea of a book is a great one. Possibly a chapter dedicated to the best comments/threads relating to each tool or system. What I could imagine each chapter containing could be information from the tips section, the jigs section as well as information contained in supplementary Festool instruction manuals which are difficult to find. A prime example of this is that the Kapex has a manual available online which is much more explanatory than the one which I got with the Kapex when I bought it.

 

[James Watriss]

You're right, Peter, I think it is a lot of work. I also think it's doable. But the lake of archives gets bigger and bigger, and my gut feeling is that there's a lot of good stuff that could/should be floated out of the lake and put into an accessible format. New people come in here all the time, and something like this might be valuable.

I don't know anything about the copyright issues involved. I don't know if the information in the archives belongs to the OP or to FOG.

Judging criteria is definitely a hard one. I don't see the need to reiterate anything published in the instruction manuals. My complaint about existing Festool books is that it seemed like they were simply rehashing the manuals, in color. The point of the idea was to compile a decent knowledge base of advanced or interesting techniques that help things run more smoothly, that people have come up with.

Yes, things are constantly changing, but that's precisely the point. Good new ideas get buzz, they evolve, and continue to get attention. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about distilling the best stuff out of the archives, so it's not lost in the buzz around the new. How many brilliant ideas for using the old MFT got dumped, lost, or ignored because they're not plug and play compatible with MFT3... but should be dusted off and re-examined? How many suggestions for home brewed sys-ports? What else is really only indexed/archived in the minds of the most senior members here? Putting a solid, distilled volume of the best of that information seems pretty approachable to me, even if it is a lot of work. It's just work.

 

[upscale]

1.  Huge amount of work.
2.  Constantly changing
3.  The selection of what are ideas to include is subjective.
4.  Publishing anything more than links might run into copyright issues.
Like I said, I love ideas and encourage them.  Keep ideas flowing!

Perhaps like most things, it just takes enough interested people willing to contribute to such an endeavour. To that end, I'm willing to offer my services. By trade, I'm a technical writer. Organization, spelling, formatting, presentation and writing for a specific audience (such as woodworkers) are all part of a technical writer's experience.

Please let me know if I can assist in this project.
Dave Moore

 

[Alan m]

im not much good at the writing part but im here if you want me

 

[cje]

How about a wiki-book?

Anyone can contribute/correct/extend the info.
searching is easier than the FOG forum
it's not thread-based, but topic based.
meta-topics can help searching for the solution for a problem.

Just my [2cents]
Karel

 

[harry_]

How about a wiki-book?

Anyone can contribute/correct/extend the info.
searching is easier than the FOG forum
it's not thread-based, but topic based.
meta-topics can help searching for the solution for a problem.

Just my [2cents]
Karel

I like the sound of that  [2cents]

 

[Steve R]

How about a wiki-book?

Anyone can contribute/correct/extend the info.
searching is easier than the FOG forum
it's not thread-based, but topic based.
meta-topics can help searching for the solution for a problem.

Just my [2cents]
Karel

I like the sound of that  [2cents]

I think the point as stated anyone can edit wiki at any time...so you can't trust the info on that site.

If anyone goes to wiki and doesn't check a second source is walking the razors edge of miss-information.

I trust this site more than Wiki.

What is here now just needs to be sorted out and then go from there.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[harry_]

Steve, but what about a wiki within this site, set up so that only members could edit the wiki?

 

[Steve R]

Steve, but what about a wiki within this site, set up so that only members could edit the wiki?

Oh...my bad...didn't know that was possible. Keeping access only to members then cool. I would think that maybe just as here high level Mods. could lock it off, etc.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Wood_Junkie]

Could this be as simple as a new forum board title "Tips" or some-such, here on the FOG?

For example, create a sub-board for each categorical area.  E.g. MFT, Domino, Saws, Sanders, Dust Extractors, etc etc.

I think it would be relatively easy to organize if members simply post a link to a specific informative thread (which they consider or extraordinary practical value), with a brief summary of the thread and some keywords for easy searching. 

Basically, creating indices, rather than a book.
The key here is NO additional comments, replies, etc other than adding not-yet-included informative links.

For example,
For MFTs there could be sticky threads related to a single topic like: "Home made sysports".
Keywords: sysport homemade home made
With links to the 4-5 various threads that have cropped up in the past few years.  Someone looking into making a Systainer storage could find those discussions very easily, even if they would have to read through the dozens of pages of discussion (there's a lot of value to the various replies, IMO).

Other sticky MFT threads could be "MFT Enhancements", and "MFT usage", etc

I think it's great and fine to have a given linked thread show up in multiple topics.  For example, some homemade sysport things are really good MFT enhancements also.  Lots of threads about the TS have good info about the paralle guides, and vice versa.

 

[Alan m]

i think this could work very well.

 

[PaulMarcel]

I think the point as stated anyone can edit wiki at any time...so you can't trust the info on that site1.

1. Citation needed

[wink]

 

[cje]

Could this be as simple as a new forum board title "Tips" or some-such, here on the FOG?

A 'tips' forum section will still be unorganized, text based. Referencing to other threads is virtually impossible. Items in the 'tips' section can only be edited by the OP. Of course, others can reply to a thread, but then we'll end up with a thread of links to other threads. It will quickly get rather complicated.

In a wiki I can imagine an entry for 'circle jigs', which will link to descriptions of circle jigs for routers, scroll saws and table saws.
The 'router jigs' entry can link to circle jigs as well. hyperlinking/cross referencing is what makes a wiki so powerful.
Having a wiki makes searching possible from different starting points: the tool(s) available, or the problem at hand.
And, any FOG member can extend/adapt the info, in way it is still a comprehensive article, in stead of a string of opinions, suggestions, additions that is chronologically organized.