Guidelines for Authors

       The Fine Tool Journal encourages the submission of articles of interest to collectors and users of antique hand tools. You don’t need to be an experienced writer or to have published before. We will be happy to work with you to get your article into shape for publication.

       An article can be on any tool-related topic. It can be about the usage or history of a particular tool or type of tool, the history of a particular maker or region, wood or metal working techniques, or even the story behind a particularly prized tool in your collection. Although our emphasis is on antique tools, articles on modern hand tools that can be used for old wood and metal working techniques are also welcome. If it’s designed to cut, shape or finish wood or metal and you can’t plug it in, we’re interested in it. As a reader of the Fine Tool Journal, you know what you would be interested in reading, and that’s what you should write about.

       Articles should ideally be in the range of 1000-3000 words, although longer articles can be accommodated, particularly if they can be broken down into multiple parts. We prefer to get articles in Microsoft Word format, either as an e-mail attachment or a CD, but we can also transcribe typed articles (or even handwritten if it’s readable). Photographs and illustrations should be submitted in JPEG or PDF files – we can scan them if necessary but this sometimes leads to loss of resolution. If you are writing about a patented tool and wish to illustrate it with the patent drawing, these can be downloaded as PDF files from Google Patents. If you submit any illustrations from printed material or from other websites, please be sure they are in the public domain or that you have permission to reprint them. Check with us if you have any doubts.

       The Fine Tool Journal reserves the right to edit all submitted materials for style and content.

       To contact us, send article to: Fine Tool Journal, P.O. Box 737, Watervliet, MI 49098 or via email at finetoolj [at] gmail.com

For the photo contest information, click HERE