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Epicurus.com - Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings
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List Price: $21.95
Our Price: $14.93
Your Save: $ 7.02 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 745
EAN: 9780393322767
ISBN: 0393322769
Label: W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2002-04
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Studio: W. W. Norton & Company
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Editorial Reviews:
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A longtime woodworker's illustrated guide to the tools of the trade and how to use them. For those who would like to have the benefit of a woodworker's extensive experience with hand tools, this is the book to own. Crammed with practical information, it is the next best thing to looking over a craftsman's shoulder as he works with his tools, asking questions and getting straight answers in plain language, seeing how each tool is held and manipulated to get the best work out of it. From bit brace, chisel, and mallet to saws, specialized planes, drawknife, and spokeshave, Aldren Watson describes in detail the actions of the tools basic to good woodworking. All the procedures are explicitly illustrated with handsome line drawings, and an appendix gives plans and dimensions for making a workbench and other necessary pieces of shop equipment. With 450 b/w illustrations by the author.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good Starting Point
Comment: I found that this book gives a great starting point on hand tools. There are some techniques given here that are very important and applicable with using power tools as well. Ever thing of drilling larger holes from both sides to avoid tear out? Want to use a hand plane to take off 0.001" to fit a tenon joint together? Want to use tools that help you avoid wood dust hypersensitivity pneumonitis and occupational asthma? Start using hand planes instead of sand paper.
I also found that there are other ways to sharpen chisels and hand plane blades other than keeping the angle with your hand, as the author recommends. However, the author comes from a time when sharpening jigs were not around, so I cannot fault him for not mentioning the sharpening jig. The author also proves that you don't need a lot of fancy power tools or jigs to be a woodworker. One example is to use a try square and a hand plane to mill lumber.
I rate this book 4 stars because it is a starting point for people who are working with wood. The book does not incorporate the latest techniques and improvements of hand tools. But is that really a bad thing when starting out?
Customer Rating:
Summary: This should be required reading...
Comment: I checked this book out from the library and now it is on my Amazon wish list, hopefully Santa Clause will put a copy in my stocking this year. This book is like a users manual for just about every common woodworking tool you would find on your Grandpa's work bench. The language is clear and the words are sparse, just the information you need, no fluff. The illustrations are perfectly drawn. I also recomend Country Furniture by Aldren Watson, it's a really good read if you have an interest in American woodworking history and practical application of hand tools.
Customer Rating:
Summary: In doubt? Just buy it!
Comment: Watson knows how to teach! The hand drawn illustrations are marvelous, the descriptions of the tools & methods of using them are superb, the projects have practical value. This is a good example of a must have book for those working with hand tools. Even if you are experienced, you'll find good tips here.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Woodworker hand tools explained!
Comment: I love this book. I have read some of the chapters two-three times now and get something more each time. As an amateur woodworker, I don't fully understand what each tool can do yet dream of outcomes that the masters create. This book explains in simple terms the what, how and what should be for each tool, be it a hand plane, chisel, hammer, etc. Most of my other woodworking books that speak of tools only touch on how to sharpen and maybe adjust but not the how it does it and how it should perform. This book heads to the top of my stack to reach for when I need some tutoring on a particular hand tool.
Customer Rating:
Summary: best buy in a long time
Comment: This is a beautiful book, the moment I read the first chapter I was wishing I'd bought the hard copy so I could put it in pride of place on my bookshelf.
I loved the illustrations, which are on almost every page and give exactly the right amount of detail in a way that photos can't. But the best part is the author's wonderful writing style, which really conveyed a sense of the timeliness and pleasure of woodworking. Even when describing such mundane things as taking measurements, the author has a great knack of focussing on the human aspect of the process, the decisions that need to be made and the emotions that the wrong and the right decision evoke. This, to me, is the reason working with handtools it is such a satisfying pastime, and this book wraps up all of those experiences in a really beautiful way. Top marks.
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