The Woodshop Widget
Quick – how much would an 8/4 board that measures 6 inches wide by 80 inches long that costs $7 a board foot cost? ($46.69 before tax)
How much shellac flake would you need to mix into 72 ounces of denatured alcohol to get a 2.5# cut? (22.5 ounces)
How’d I get my supernatural woodworking powers? Did that lightning bolt that hit me in the head have anything to do with it?
No, it’s not superpowers… but it’s a super-handy woodworking tool that Marc Spagnuolo and programmer Kenneth Woodruff cooked up to make shop calculations that much easier. The Woodshop Widget is a free program you can use online or on your iPhone/iPad/iPod. It allows you do calculate the board feet in a board and the price, shellac cuts, convert between fractions and decimals, determine the amount of expansion and contraction you will see in a board and even has links to top shop tips.
Marc and Kenneth are in the process of considering an Android-friendly version.
While it may not be able to answer all of your woodworking questions (Who invented the circular saw blade?), this little program can help make your shop time a whole lot more fun.
App is a nice beginning but it costs most of us $2.00 (perhaps you got it for free in exchange for a favorable review??)
Since I don’t own an iPhone, I use the web-based version. I do know that the iPhone/iPad/iPod version does cost $2…
Try to find the widget among all the ads on that page. 😉
Rob –
Are you referring to the large box that dominates the left side of the page that’s clearly marked “The Workshop Widget” with the introduction, quick tutorial, preferences and about buttons? 🙂
I would like to add one slight correction. While an Android version is not out of the question, it is not in development at the moment. We are kind of waiting for the smoke to clear a bit before strategizing the next move.
Tom, what did you do to be automatically mistrusted without cause? lol.
I woke up this morning…
Tom
thanks for the suggestion and I just
bought the App for my Iphone.
Thanks again and I do trust you and
Marc.
I am in Coconut grove in Miami with a lot of extra space if
u and yours ever want to crash and I won’t
hide the silver!!!!
John
Look, Marc! Someone who WON’T hide the silver when I come to visit!
Must not know too much about me… or my shop monkey!