You are hereBlogs / Luke Townsley's blog / Score: 55 to 2
Score: 55 to 2
There is good news and more good news in this post. First the good news.
I just counted the number of blogs tracked by my blog aggregator. By my latest count, we are now up to 57 blogs that I am tracking here on this site dealing with hand tool woodworking. Nice.
Now the other good news. There is a great opportunity here for women woodworking bloggers. Of the 57 blogs tracked, I can think of only two that are run by ladies. One of them, The Village Carpenter, is my second favorite woodworking blog and is a particularly good example of how to keep a blog.
Now I understand there are more men working wood than women. A lot more. Don't get me wrong, I am really happy that a lot of guys are doing blogs and podcasts. I would just like to see more women bringing their unique viewpoint into the discussion.
Hi Luke, another interesting subject. The female woodworkers I know are very intimidated by male woodworkers. It's a shame, because all the male woodworkers I know are very supportive and would like to see more women get involved.
57 sites focusing on handtools is encouraging indeed!
I can understand that they might feel intimidated in what is sometimes perceived to be a man's world.
IMO, in blogging about woodworking, they should consider focusing on what drew them to the craft or what they like. For example, someone who is artistically inclined might focus on the artistry of their carving or inlay or what have you. Having a woodworking blog isn't all about having the most talent or experience. Not all of us can be a Stephen Shepherd, but lots of people have unique and interesting things to share.
In any event, I do believe that a lot of men and women alike would find posts by female bloggers to be lively and interesting even in spite of or because of their newness to the craft or physical limitations or whatever other excuse one could come up with.
Maybe my next appeal will be for teenage bloggers. I am thirty-three, and as far as I know, I may actually be the youngest active blogger on my list...
Actually Luke, I am a few years younger than you. For the past 27 years I've been 29.
There is a rule about that.
When the years "holding" exceeds the years "celebrated", you have to have a birthday!
Luke,
I share your concern. I make an effort to feature women on my blog. There are lots of incredibly talented women woodworkers out there. Pat Morrow and Cindy Vargas come to mind. Also, in the new special issue of Fine Woodworking dedicated to furniture, I notice that there are quite a few women represented. That's certainly heartening. Perhaps you could have a look at them and see if any of them have blogs.
Thanks for your excellent site.
Regards,
Mitch
Mitch,
Thanks for the note. I will try to do some more checking, but I haven't been able to come up with any more blogs, yet. I am not currently a subscriber to FWW, so I don't have those names.
I am a neophyte woman woodworker with a new blog starting on September 1st -- My tentative name is Grace and Grain which I 'borrowed' from a recent exhibit of Sam Maloof's work in CA. My plan is to capture the 'process' of becoming a hopefully proficient content woodworker from a relative beginner status from in a woman's voice and point of view... plan to see lots of pain and agony as well as thrill of victory as they say.
Cheers
You can see Kathy's blog here:
http://graceandgrain.blogspot.com
I haven't added it to the aggregator since I am not sure how much it will deal with hand tools, but it looks like it will be very interesting.
Luke