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Porch
The best online source
of
hand-tool woodworking
discussion and
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Official Image Location for the
OldTools Mailing List |
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Fine Woodworking Magazine Index
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Works Progress Administration
Poster from 1930s |
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The Craftsman's Lounge
Welcome. Come in and spend some time in the Craftsman's
Lounge - a "Reading Room," if you will.
Here you'll find a growing
number of links to
books, articles, and blogs of interest to woodworkers of all
stripes. I've placed and emphasis on those with information
concerning traditional methods, but all persuasions are represented.
I add articles as I run
across them, so please check back, you never know what you'll find.
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The Craftsman Magazine Articles |
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So, as a budding woodworker around the turn of the last
century, how great would it have been to apprentice at home under
'The Craftsman' himself -
Gustav Stickley? As editor of The
Craftsman Magazine, as well as founder of the Stickley
Furniture Company, Mr. Stickley published a series of articles, beginning in the February 1905 issue,
aimed at improving the skills of the aspiring cabinetmaker.
In addition to dispensing advice on what makes up a solid kit of
tools, tips on wood selection, and finishing, he also provides plans and
material lists to take you from a rank beginner to a solid home-craftsman.
Be advised that the plans are are a bit short on instructions for our modern tastes, but the intermediate woodworker should have no
trouble figuring out the joints and how they should be fitted.
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Books &
Articles at The OldToolsShop |
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Here is an extensive collection of
Manuals, Catalogues, and Information submitted by
Wiktor Kuc and Galoots from the OldTools List. This is a great place to
find out about cleaning your latest rust haul with citric acid,
sharpening with a hard felt wheel, or just kicking back and
writing up a "fantasy order" from the 1926 Henry Disston
Catalogue. There is literally (or literary-ly) hundreds of
hours of reading there.
From an historical How-To perspective I would like to suggest
two books by William. Noyes,
Design and Construction in Wood -1913 (10.5MB),
directed toward the beginning woodworker with lots practical
projects, and Handwork
in Wood -1910 (21 MB), a book aimed at woodworking
instructors - both books are complete with photos of 'guys
in ties' in the shop, ala Bernard Jones. Also, as an
answer to that question that crops up on the OldTools List
regularly see
Handbook On Japanning (559K), a 1913 book by
William N. Brown. The USDA has put together a
comprehensive booklet on the care and feeding of the Axe in
An Ax to Grind - 1999 (17.5 MB). This booklet
features tips an techniques on the field axe from their
historical expert who instructs rangers on hand tool use in
Wilderness Areas. And for sheer
machine-engraving and old-time-advertising overload, you can't
beat the fairly large download of
The Woodworker (30MB), a 1921
vintage trade publication. Bon Appétit.
This is a less formal area with a collection of stories, experience,
and tips, along with
some interesting and entertaining posts from the OldTools List.
Here you can read about other's experience with shooting/chuting
boards, how to make your own 'pore-o-pac,' fabricating scrapers from
old saws, etc.
Gary at
The Toolemera Press hosts this
PDF of an 1888 book by Fred T. Hodgson. In the book's 96
pages Mr. Hodgson covers the evolution of saw from the
Egyptian times through late the 19th Century. As
the title says... he covers it all. The link will take you to
a page with several saw care and use titles.
Wik, has unearthed a great
blacksmithing primer geared toward everyday use, well everyday
on the farm back about 1900. This is a great reference for
us want-a-be smiths.
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Project Gutenberg Ebooks |
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This is a link to the
ever-expanding
Project Gutenberg, the
online source of copyright books has re-published this 1919
vintage book by Archie S. Miton & Otto K Wohler as a free
ebook. The book is a primer on the basics of wood
turning and is an outgrowth of the authors' experience with high
schools students of the day.
A Course in Wood
Turning is
divided into two parts, spindle turning and faceplate turning.
There are lots of exercises and many illustrations. If at
all possible, view the book in HTML format so that you can see
the illustrations.
 Here
is an undated book from the early 20th century by Archibald Williams.
At 441 pages, this book contains a wide ranging collection of
projects for the home craftsman, from joiners bench, to
sheds, and doors. Mr. Williams as has toys for both the adult
and the child, such as telegraph keys, harmonographs,
steam tops, water motors, and a miniature gasworks. This
link will take you to a generously illustrated 1893 book by
Fredrick Litchfield. When Mr. Litchfield said earliest, he
meant it, since it begins with Egyptian and Roman homes and
works his way through mediaeval and into the Victorian era.
A good book to separate the Chippendale from the Jacobean in
your mind.
This 1913 era book
link will answer most of those questions regarding that odd
thick black finish on your Stanley planes.
NEW Through over
400-line drawings this 1930 era book by
William Fairham illustrates the
proper methods of laying out and executing woodworking joints.
In addition to the standard joints and variations that you'd
expect,
Mr. Fairham also covers curved
and circular work, as well as a few puzzle joints.
This 1910 era book
on French polishing goes quite a bit beyond the basics and
contains a chapter on various finishing formulas, as well as a
list of natural ingredients, just in case you want to brew your
own.
NEW
Subtitled, 700
things for Boys to Do with 800 illustrations Showing How. This
587
page book, published in 1913 is loaded with the types of
projects that I would have loved as a boy - there are also some
that would turn a mother's hair prematurely gray. All in
all, it is a great browse and I can't wait for Volume 2!
When it's time to
whip up a golootish lunch you will find this 1764 book the last
word on stewing a pike and pickling a smelt, or after closing up
shop for the day, how to make a jug of 'ratife brandy.'
Note about project Gutenberg ebooks. They are usually
available in at least a couple of formats (e.g. plain
text, PDF, MS Word, Rich Text, etc.- both standard and zipped). As are all things on
the net, as the visual quality gets better as the file gets larger.
You may have to chose a zip version of the PDF or Rich Text
format and "open" the zip file on your computer.
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Articles / eBooks Elsewhere on the Net |
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This book, hosted on a multilingual site
Finescrollsaw.com,
was originally published in 1876 by Arthur
Hope. This 63-page book provides a nice overview of the "how to"
of manual inlay, sometimes referred to as Sorrento for the
Italian city of its origin in the 15th century. This site
also has quite a few patterns and some beautiful examples of
scroll saw work.
This link takes you to Look-Smart's "Find Articles" archive of
EAIA articles. At the time of this writing there were
490 articles about everything from American & British plane
makers, to wagon wheelwrights, edge toolmakers, and wampum
manufacturers.. They have quite a nice collection to
peruse.
Hosted at Google Books, the work published in 1883
and written by Ernest Spon, Robert Haldane, and Charles George
Warnford Lock, this book is a collection
of formulas for around-the-shop basics such as, extracts,
essences, cleaning supplies, dying, staining, paint, etc.
There is even a recipe for grain alcohol - for your
shellac of course.
NEW
Another Google Books item, this American book,
published in 1842 and written by Peter Nicholson is
subtitled "The Elements and Practice of Carpentry, Joinery,
Bricklaying, Masonry, Slating, Plastering, Painting, Smithing,
and Turning." What else can I say?.
NEW
Hosted at Cornell University, this book originally
published in 1872, by Fred Hamilton Daniels addresses furnishing
an affordable house of the day. The concept is interesting
in and of itself, but in doing so, several illustrations
are used showing furniture and their proportions to room size,
etc. A nice snapshot of Victorian attitudes toward decor.
PW Magazine is offering selected articles from their magazine
on their free website. The selection is growing and covers a
wide range of topics, such as finishing, chisel use, hand
scraper tuning, wood turning, etc. All this with a
searchable index.
Chris Pye is a master carver who obviously loves his work and
sharing his knowledge. Chris has published a dozen
ebooks on carving and sharpening, all of which are available
on his website. While you are there take a look
at his work, and sign up for his newsletter.
His Ebooks are now available in PDF format.
NEW
Use the link above to begin your search on LookSmart for
articles from The Chronicle, of the Early American
Industries Association. Over 500 articles and entries are
listed.
During the summer of 2006 I attended the exhibit,
Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artist
For the Ages, at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Since I dabble in stained glass - dare I say art glass - as
well as wood, I thought that
the show might provide insight as well as inspiration.
What I didn't expect to find was a primitive, painted, Arts &
Crafts breakfast table and chair in among all the gilded
finery. The odd thing is that
the breakfast suite was designed and built by furniture makers
J. Matthew Meier and Ernest Hagen for use in the
Tiffany Mansion, a seven-story Romanesque edifice
at the corner of Madison Ave & 72nd Street in NYC.
The table on display at the DMA had a single pedestal, while
the photo above/right is a sister table with two pedestals - I
could not find a photo of the single. The table is an
exceeding simple and unadorned, designed much like a
draftsman's table or even a sawhorse with an attached
board-top. It is openly gusseted and attached to the
"sawhorse" support by what look like hand screws (see photo
referenced in article or
here).. The main link in the heading of his
section takes you to a page at the
Chipstone Foundation where Milo M. Naeve describes
the furniture and its history history in detail - if your
browser displays their page in teeny-tiny type like mine you
may want to actually read it
here.
This is a great site with a smattering of information on a
wide range of tool topics. The museum has preserved a random
assortment of great information onsite, through links, and less
useful for us west of the Mississippi, on paper.
There are several articles about early tools, tool use,
tool-making techniques, metallurgy, phenomenology, chemical
issues, etc. dating from the Bronze age through the 19th
century. There are lists containing information on
Sheffield manufactories, Forges located in Massachusetts Bay in
1778, and a Survey of Ironworks of Southeastern New England
1645—1840. They also have old catalog page reproductions and a
few excerpts from Moxton, There is even a “Tool Exam”
with answers (Exam
/
Answers). •
Preserving Arts & Skills of Trades (PAST) Articles
A collection by Ken Greenburg of articles appearing in PAST's
"Tool Talk" newsletter.. Most articles deal with a variety
of subjects from how to work ivory to a two-part series on
mechanical pencil sharpeners.
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Newsletters, Ezines, Blogs, Audio, and Video |
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The following associations, magazines, and companies maintain blogs, or an online collection of back newsletters
and ezines.
Enjoy!
Newsletters
Ezines
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Blogs
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Rockler Woodworking Blog
NEW
Workbench & Woodsmith's tips in a Blog format.
Audio
NEW
- Interview with on Workbenches
Videos
- Free to the public
- Skills &
Technique Videos - Subscription Only
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