I’ve been working at Fine Woodworking for 17 years—wow, those years flew by. My phone number is the one listed in the masthead under “To contact us…” It used to say something like “If you have a question, call…” I’ve received a lot of phone calls over the years. With a lot of different questions. Sometimes a caller might be looking for the source of a particular hinge shown in a photo in the middle of an article. Sometimes they need a phone number. A lot of them are because the reader couldn’t find an article they remembered seeing. Most times, they’ll say it appeared in the magazine within the last five years. Almost always, it was at least 10 years ago. Time does slip by without noticing.

This all means I’ve done a lot of digging through the pages of Fine Woodworking. It’s fun and I’ve learned a lot. Sometimes I quickly know exactly what the reader is talking about and can go right to the source. That scares me a little.

One of the most sought-after articles over the years is about plywood, “Phenolic Plywood, The Ultimate Shop Plywood” by Stuart Lipp. In my desk copy of this issue, I have listed the phone numbers for a few of the sources as well as alternate product names.

Another popular request is for two articles about making wooden clockworks by Wayne Westphale. I often get call after call for a few months for these articles and then nothing for a few years. Then the calls start again. I don’t know why.

Steve Latta’s federal card table article and the accompanying Master Class: “Federal Style Stringing and Banding” have always been popular. I have received many calls over the years looking for one of the stringing sources: Dover Inlay at one point became Dover Designs, and I was able to provide new contact information. Now (17 years later) it seems both companies are gone. But I was able to contact Steve and get current sources, such as acutemarquetry.com, armstronginlay.com, and inlaybanding.com.

I don’t get as many calls these days. Maybe that’s because we have a great article index on our website https://www.finewoodworking.com/magazine-index, so most of the readers can search for missing articles on their own. But if you need help finding something, give me call. I love talking with our readers – you are a nice bunch of people.

Oh, and Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe 2022 is almost over and 2023 is soon to be here. I guess time really is flying.

Betsy Engel

	The Ultimate Shop Plywood Build better jigs, tables, cauls, and cabinets with phenolic plywood Stuart Lipp
	Designing Wooden Clockworks Movements and how they work Wayne Westphale
	Making a Wooden Clockworks Part two: Getting things ticking Wayne Westphale
	Federal Demilune Card Table A folding top, gate legs, and a curved apron distinguish this piece. Steve Latta
	Federal-Style Stringing and Banding Embellish a Federal card table in the traditional style. Steve Latta