I know it isn't as sensational as some of the forum experts speculations but my shop really is in my garage, not a factory or building owned by whatever tool manufacturer has their attention at the moment. Here you can see how the photo lights don't make the shop any bigger!
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NewWoodworker.com in 2009

The momentum continues

Text & Photos by Tom Hintz

Posted - 12-29-2008

As NewWoodworker.com LLC surges into its ninth year of operation, the future looks brighter than ever. Despite the economic downturn that has slammed much of the world or perhaps because of it, NewWoodworker.com LLC continues to grow in content and traffic. The traffic numbers in 2008 rose another 9-percent over 2007, the eighth consecutive year of substantial growth. Notable within that growth is the nearly 20-percent page view increase to our exclusive NewWoodworker.com LLC Plans and How-To DVD pages 2008!

Woodworking Bailout

The downside to designing plans is that I get to keep all of the prototypes in my shop....someday I'd like to have a row of cabinets that are all alike.
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From the beginning, the plan was to keep the price of my exclusive NewWoodworker.com LLC Plans and How-To DVD's as low as possible. Though always attractive to woodworkers, that pricing scheme fits the current economic situation even better. The only increases over the years have been in response to mailing costs. Until the postal rates go up, the prices will remain as they are.

NewWoodworker.com has around 1000 pages on-line at this writing. If I would break those pages up as some other sites do I could quadruple that number easily but the current format seems easiest for our viewers to use so this format will remain.

Throughout 2008 I have made improvements to the infrastructure behind the pages you see. New still and video cameras, photographic lighting and computers bolstered with increasingly capable software have enhanced the content and streamlined the process of getting it on line. NewWoodworker.com LLC remains a one-person, home based shop/website so the quality of its infrastructure is especially important.

How-To DVD's

The office (converted spare bedroom) is full of what it takes to produce Newwoodworker.com and the related materials as well as to do my journalism work that actually pays the bills NewWoodworker.com generates!
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I continue to expand the line of the full-length NewWoodworker.com LLC DVD's. New in 2008 was the Round Kitchen Table Plan/DVD combo, the Table Saw Basics DVD and the Building and Using the Top Four NewWoodworker.com LLC Jigs DVD/plan set combo. All three have become very popular. Look for new full-length DVD's on the Jointer and another on Making Common Joints in the coming months from NewWoodworker.com LLC. More DVD titles are on the schedule as well and will be produced as time permits.

To make NewWoodworker.com LLC videos more accessible to mobile devices I have put copies of them on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/thintz12. This YouTube presence will always be in addition to, not in place of the full stories NewWoodworker.com LLC.

Also new in 2008 is an on line NewWoodworker.com Gear store where you can buy clothing and other items with a few of my own graphics and slogans. This is through the folks at CafePress.com because I have no hope of finding time to produce all of this merchandise! Like the Plans and How-To DVD's, the NewWoodworker.com LLC Gear pricing is as low as possible. Any profits made go directly to operating the NewWoodworker.com LLC site.

Video Shop Tour

Talk to Me

As always, I remain interested in your thoughts. NewWoodworker.com LLC was built to serve its viewers so your input is always welcome. Most of the changes and content on NewWoodworker.com LLC came in response to viewer input. I will never be able to totally satisfy each individual but there is lots of common ground in woodworking, which makes the majority rule thing work very well.

I want to thank everyone that visits NewWoodworker.com LLC. It never crossed my mind in the early days that individual visits in a single year would top 3-million, but that is exactly what happened in 2008! I can't wait to see how 2009 goes!

Visit the NewWoodworker.com Gear Store - Click Here

Visit my YouTube Page - Click Here

Tom Hintz, Publisher
NewWoodworker.com LLC

Have a comment on this story? - Email Me!

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