I am an amateur woodworker in Santa Barbara, CA, reviving an interest in
woodworking after twenty-five years of being distracted by other pursuits.

The process of gathering tools and learning how to use them feeds my
interest for the moment. In time I would like to tackle such projects as
Shaker style furniture. I am self-taught, not having had any instruction
apart from what I have gotten from books, tv and now a single video. Like
many others I've watched Norm's show, but he always leaves me
dissatisfied, such as when he lifted the lid of a small cherry jewelry box
and the still planer rippled surface of the wood was briefly evident.

I got started down the slippery slope most recently after making plans for
a simple box to hold a VCR. As the planning for that proceeded I realized
that I didn't have the right tools for the job. Saws I had, but not a
shooting board or adequate plane. This led to gathering together a Stanley
5 jack plane, an old 60½ block plane then a no. 4 smoother and a 5½ jack
plane. Stanley 6 and 7 planes are on my list of things to watch for. And
of course I wanted to expand my small collection of sharpening stones,
added a few oilstones and now I'm a convert to waterstones. And maybe my
little saws aren't quite what I need so I'd like to find some good user
saws, crosscut, rip, tenon and dovetail. Learning how to sharpen them has
led me to gather together a pile of mill and taper files, a Stover saw
vise and a few Stanley sawsets, Harold "Dynamite" Payson's book and Tom
Law's video.

When I first became interested in woodworking so long ago it was Aldren
Watson's _Country Furniture_ that captured my attention. Later James
Krenov's books were important to me, together with Bernard Jones'
_Complete Woodworker_. More recently I have been studying David Finck's
_Making and Mastering Wood Planes_ David Charlesworth's _Furniture Making
Techniques_ Vol. 2, Graham Blackburn's _Traditional Woodworking Handtools_
and Mike Dunbar's _Restoring, Tuning and Using Classic Woodworking Tools_.

Leonard Lee's book on sharpening has been something of a bible to me
lately. Would anyone care to comment on the merits of Jim Kingshott's, Don
Geary's, or Ian Kirby's books on the subject?

I spent this afternoon sharpening a few plane irons, using an Eclipse
honing guide and the waterstones. The Eclipse, and the adaptations of it
seen in David Charlesworth's book and on Jeff Gorman's website fascinate
me. I've been making plans for a blade setting jig similar to that in
Leonard Lee's book.

As I plan for more tool purchases in the near future I am thinking of
upgrading my small set of measuring and marking tools. Starrett rules,
straightedges, bevels and protractors appeal to me at the moment.

At times I find myself wanting to know far more about metalworking--not to
the point of setting up a machine shop but to learn basic techniques for
forming metal parts for woodworking projects. Might someone recommend a
good reference work along this line? I have no budget for metal working
machines but would like to learn something about using a bending brake,
files, drills and taps, and cutting light sheet metal.

So, for now I am gaining practical experience, making a lot of mistakes
and learning. Some weekend soon I may actually make that box for the VCR.

Best wishes,

Leon E. Zimlich
Lzimlich@e...

> At times I find myself wanting to know far more about metalworking--not to
> the point of setting up a machine shop but to learn basic techniques for
> forming metal parts for woodworking projects. 

Welcome to the porch!

I found the Kingshott "Making and Modifying Woodworking Tools" to be a good
modern source of basic metalworking info. I haunt used bookshops and thrift
stores for old metalworking and woodworking books. One of my fave's is the
ca. 1955 Popular Mechanics' Encyclopedia set. Lots of galootish metal and
woodworking articles from the 20's- 50's. This set is common as dirt around
here (east coast). Another that I have found useful is "Shop Theory"
printed by the Henry Ford Trade School in 1934. Good luck finding one, but
worth the search. Lindsay books, www.lindsaybks.com, is a good source for
reprinted material on not only metalworking, but embalming and bootlegging.
Have fun!

Art Bailey
Somerville, Ma.

Hi Leon,

Welcome to the Porch. The Home Machinist's Handbook by Doug Briney is
about as basic as you will find for a first look at machining, IMO.
Don't overlook the woodworking books by Charles H. Hayward; "Woodworking
Joints", "Cabinetmaking for Beginners" (much more here than the name
suggests) and "Tools for Woodworking"

Hey Art,  I notice you didn't mention Lindsay Books treatise on gas the
"I Just Love to Fart Cookbook".  Sorry galoots, off topic but true, it's
in the Linsay Technical Books Catalogue for $6.95.

Marvin Paisner
Kootenay Lake, BC

  Leon Zimlich asks: 
> > At times I find myself wanting to know far more about metalworking--not to
> > the point of setting up a machine shop but to learn basic techniques for
> > forming metal parts for woodworking projects.

> Arthur Bailey wrote:
> Welcome to the porch!
> worth the search. Lindsay books, www.lindsaybks.com, is a good source for
> reprinted material on not only metalworking, but embalming and bootlegging.
> Have fun!
>

At 06:02 PM 3/1/03, Leon E. Zimlich wrote:

>At times I find myself wanting to know far more about metalworking--not to
>the point of setting up a machine shop but to learn basic techniques for
>forming metal parts for woodworking projects. Might someone recommend a
>good reference work along this line? I have no budget for metal working
>machines but would like to learn something about using a bending brake,
>files, drills and taps, and cutting light sheet metal

I really like the 1937 edition of the Henry Burghardt 2 volume set (whose 
title escapes me) though it is mostly machinery oriented but it is old 
enough to have a good deal of basic info on feeds and speeds much of it 
which would be applicable to treadle tools and some to hand tools 
(mandatory OT content).  If you get lucky like I did a while back and find 
a milling machine for $25 to make planes with (some day) so much the better.

best and welcome to the list!

Mark

Mark van Roojen
Department of Philosophy
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
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