Who/What Are Your Top 5 Sources of Building Information?

[kbalch]

We all obtain building information, whether generally educational or mission-specific, from a variety of sources, both online and otherwise.

Who/what are your top 5?

[Jon]

This is an interesting one that I really had to think out. For me, in no specific order:

- Google. Simple as that.

- My online guys. If I'm on a forum long enough, I'll identify various posters that are extremely knowledgeable. Some of these guys I know personally, some I've never interacted with. Querying them for info can be anything from sending a personal email, to directing a question to them in a thread, to including their username in a Google search.

- My offline guys. These are people I know personally, not in cyberspace, but in meatspace. Mostly older guys, some in my neighborhood, some in the nearby area, some who work at places like the hardware store or the lumber yard. These are generally people who rarely, if ever, use the internet. There is a really smart old hotrodder in the next canyon over. He doesn't own a computer, and I'm pretty sure he's never been online. He has this joke I've heard a million times. When anyone mentions the internet, he says: "I love the web. I used to have one of the oldest 'web' sites around, until I took it down..." Then he points to the corner of the ceiling and says:

"...with a broom!"



- Books. Still beats the internet for lots of topics.

- My mistakes. I have a go-to response I say when I get a compliment on something I've made, built, cooked, etc. I say: "Thank you. My secret is years of screwing up." This usually gets a laugh, and it's very true. A good screwup, followed a good analysis of the screwup, generally yields a lot of knowledge.

[Nadogail]

I read a lot and look at many pictures.
Sometimes I study catalogs.
Mostly I scratch my head, or a lower part of my anatomy and try to think of a simple way to inexpensively solve a problem.

[Christophe Mineau]

Hi,
Like Jon above, I use online ideas, and I am proud to say that my research now always starts by the Homemadetools.net great encyclopedia, with its great search engine, great classification, great bottom page suggestions (So many thanks Jon, I know we all participate, but you put all that stuff in such a great shape, and I notice day after day continuous improvements (that had to be said ) ).
Aesthetically speaking, I have had one new resource since a few months, that I like more and more, it is Pinterest. I was skeptical at the beginning on how it could be interesting and I started using it as simply as a repository to classify the great pictures and ideas I meet here and there over the Web, in boards that represent my own centers of interest, and I was surprised to see some people subscribing to my boards, and having a look at what they have I found really great stuff, and the more I have activity on it, the more pertinent are the suggestions I get from it. I find some really awesome stuff there. Fine old tools, aesthetically good looking tools, and same for musical instruments.

And same as Nadogail also, I scratch my head, and scratch again and scratch so much I now have few hair left on top of it ... thought it provides better cooling
I try to find elegant solution, with as often as possible my personal touch in implementing somewhat differently than the main stream. Sometime, it's worthwhile, sometimes not, but I like to give myself some challenges.
You will see, the next tool I will submit, I have it on the bench, it's a lot of research over the Web and a lot of head scratching to figure out how I could do it by my own means ...

[Hotz]

As quoted by Christophe today reference point initially is Homemadetools.net. of course
But also like the old patents (free online) .

[Jon]

Hi,
I notice day after day continuous improvements (that had to be said ) .

Glad this is being noticed! I'm almost done dividing up the Woodworking category into subcategories. After that, I think we'd like to add the option to restrict searches to specific categories.

The new Popular listings on the homepage have also been getting a lot of traffic.

Aesthetically speaking, I have had one new resource since a few months, that I like more and more, it is Pinterest.

I like Pinterest too. However, I did notice that it's mostly for crafts and recipes, and not really for "builds". My wife really loves it.

[Christophe Mineau]

Jon, One thing that could be nice would be to introduce a placeholder for discussing or reacting about the external tools you pick up and we see only in new tools or the newsletter or that Popular listing. even if we miss the author, sometimes, it could be interesting to start discussions ..
cheers

[Jon]

Jon, One thing that could be nice would be to introduce a placeholder for discussing or reacting about the external tools you pick up and we see only in new tools or the newsletter or that Popular listing. even if we miss the author, sometimes, it could be interesting to start discussions ..
cheers

Do you find that the "add comment" feature at the bottom of a tool page is useful? Should we place that comment box in a more prominent position (like maybe closer to the "Rate this build" star ratings)?

[Christophe Mineau]

Hey Jon, that's the first time I see this button !
OK I just did some comments, is there a forum thread where it appear or does it stay at the tool page level only ?
Yes, I think you should do something in order to make it more visible.
Are there a lot of comments comming through this way ?
Thanks for the job Jon.
Christophe

[kbalch]

Like most others, and certainly anyone reading this (being already disposed toward online resources), my first stop is invariably Google. There's lots of info out there on any and every topic under the sun. Often, the first challenge is one of devising a set of suitable search parameters to narrow in on exactly what I'm seeking. The second (sometimes greater) challenge is of separating the proverbial wheat from the chaff. On many forum sites, the signal to noise ratio is, shall we say, not great. That said, it's not terribly difficult to figure out who the knowledgable and respected members are and to rank their contributions correspondingly higher. Individual websites vary widely in quality, but good and useful info is out there to be found.

At this point in my life, I've been fortunate to have made the acquaintance of a fairly wide net of skilled craftsmen in a range of disciplines from whom I've learned a great deal over the years. When I need specialist tips of a particular sort, I usually have a "right" guy to call or email.

My current major project is a kit car, so the factory is a prime source of building information on that front.

Books are essential and I've managed to assemble a decent reference library covering a range of topics. Automotive, aviation, motorcycling, firearms, etc.

I'm sure to be leaving something out, but this seems to cover most of the usual bases…

Ken