A recent conversation with BJ about SS gifts on my bench build thread got me to thinking of another SS gift. A SS in a different year - who remained nameless - sent a note that he had read my posts and noticed I liked old B & W books and magazine articles. So he sent several things along with 2 old B & W books. Here's the pic from the old "after SS gift thread":
Now that I kinda sorta have a bench and a lot of suggestions to build something, I thought a re-read of these particular two was in order. I am almost thru with the first one "How to Work with Tools and Wood". It is the official Stanley publication copyrighted in 1942. It has the original Stanley adv pamphlet "The Joy of Accomplishment" with a list "Selecting Tools for a Home Workshop" at the end and ads for "Stanley Tool Guide, Stanley Plans and Book (this book), and more Stanley Plans". While it is at the beginner level, it is 174 pages of very complete descriptions.
I guess it's been enough years now that I can say again, what I think is lost in the current crop of full color book and magazine articles is that much or most of the communication of detail is left up to the pics and color drawings. I do this myself every day in my business and am thankful that a pic can show more than a thousand words. But I don't do ww'ing for a business and when I read the old materials before color printing, the B & W text and drawings had to go the whole nine yards to try to describe whatever complex technique was at hand. That is, while the language is a bit stilted, I find the language much more descriptive (without the color) and really enjoy soaking up the essence of the era at leisure.
What makes the biggest impression now on a re-read is that in there nowhere does it mention how something could be done some other way with power tools. It assumes that if you're going to work your way all the way up to the most difficult joints that you would be using a #55 to do them with....
Next up I'm looking forward to reading again "A Manual for Hand Woodworking" by DeWitt Hunt, copyright 1925. While it only has 141 pages by comparison to the Stanley book, the subjects it does cover are in greater detail. To that nameless SS, once again, thanks very much! Here they are with their brethren back then:
Now that I kinda sorta have a bench and a lot of suggestions to build something, I thought a re-read of these particular two was in order. I am almost thru with the first one "How to Work with Tools and Wood". It is the official Stanley publication copyrighted in 1942. It has the original Stanley adv pamphlet "The Joy of Accomplishment" with a list "Selecting Tools for a Home Workshop" at the end and ads for "Stanley Tool Guide, Stanley Plans and Book (this book), and more Stanley Plans". While it is at the beginner level, it is 174 pages of very complete descriptions.
I guess it's been enough years now that I can say again, what I think is lost in the current crop of full color book and magazine articles is that much or most of the communication of detail is left up to the pics and color drawings. I do this myself every day in my business and am thankful that a pic can show more than a thousand words. But I don't do ww'ing for a business and when I read the old materials before color printing, the B & W text and drawings had to go the whole nine yards to try to describe whatever complex technique was at hand. That is, while the language is a bit stilted, I find the language much more descriptive (without the color) and really enjoy soaking up the essence of the era at leisure.
What makes the biggest impression now on a re-read is that in there nowhere does it mention how something could be done some other way with power tools. It assumes that if you're going to work your way all the way up to the most difficult joints that you would be using a #55 to do them with....
Next up I'm looking forward to reading again "A Manual for Hand Woodworking" by DeWitt Hunt, copyright 1925. While it only has 141 pages by comparison to the Stanley book, the subjects it does cover are in greater detail. To that nameless SS, once again, thanks very much! Here they are with their brethren back then:
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