Toolemera Blog

Shavings

Today's post will be brief and to the point. The newsletter of the Early American Industries Association is known as Shavings. For years it was a print newsletter, mailed four times a year to membership. This past year saw the conversion to a digital format, eShavings (we worked a long time at coming up with that catchy title!). Shavings still goes out in a print copy, but we are encouraging membership to move over to the PDF version to save trees and to save printing and postage costs. Plus, eShavings is full of active links and all sorts of pretty color pictures.

A poorly kept secret is that eShavings is available from the EAIA website to anyone who wants to download it. And that is why I am haranguing you today. If you are a member of the EAIA and have not yet opted out of the paper version in favor of the electronic version, please give it some thought. I realize that some people (myself included) like the feel of paper in the hand. Just think about it, ok?

If you are not an EAIA member, take a look at what you are missing by reading the new issue of eShavings. You can also head directly to the EAIA website and check out back issues of eShavings.

Harangue ended.
Gary

Mechanick Exercises: 1703 meets 2009

It's only taken 306 years, but finally, Joseph Moxon's Mechanick Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-Works is well on it's way to seeing the 21st Century as a digital document. After many stops and starts, backfires and flat tires, the master files are at the media printer. I'll receive a check copy later this week. If all goes well, the Real Deal will be ready to go live and for sale.

 Producing a facsimile version has been an interesting exercise in digital imaging and PDF production. Getting the balance between file size, OCR, image textures, legibility and usability has been a long road. My goal was and is to produce facsimile reproductions. By facsimile, I mean a reprint that offers the reader the experience of enjoying all the idiosyncracies of the original book. Although cleaned of dirt, flattened as much as possible and image adjusted for contrast, the Mechanick Exercises PDF retains the finger prints, margin notes, creases, stains and textures that tell you this is the real thing (even if it is a reproduction).

I've never been a fan of super duper cleaned up reprints. You know the type. The page background is sparkly clean, the letters are sharp and the editors have corrected 'errors'. While I like a book to be as free of foxing, creases, stains and marks as possible, I find that reading those same blemishes can tell me a great deal of the history of the readers of the book. Dog-eared corners tell me what part someone liked, or where the day's reading ended. Finger prints on covers give an identity to the book. Margin notes personalize the book in focusing my attention on the thoughts of a prior reader.

This copy of Mechanick Exercises was owned in the early 18th Century by the Studd family. I have yet to figure out who they where, but the hunt goes on. Three members of the Studd family saw fit to sign the book (although Mary Studd may have been doodling). The book was of sufficient importance to the family that two members signed both the front and back inside covers. Although there are a few notes penned within the text, the book is remarkably free of scribbles. That alone tells me of the important role this book played in the lives of the owners. The covers, while worn and in some places devoid of leather, are original. Even the spine retains 75% of the leather. For a book that was meant to be used as a working guide, the overall condition indicates the intrinsic value prior owners assigned to it.

I recently came into ownership of Thomas Martin's Circle of the Mechanical Arts (1815). In the preface, Martin comments on the scarcity of Moxon as part of his rationale for updating and expanding upon the subjects covered in Mechanick Exercises. Barely 100 years after it's publication, Mechanick Exercises was already a scarce but saught after volume.

For a teaser of the Mechanick Exercises PDF, stop by the Toolemera eStore. If all goes well, the full CD will be available within the next two weeks (once I review the check disk and demystify Paypal buttons).

Till next
Gary

Marketing the Chronicle DVD

Folks, for the next few minutes, please do not answer your phone, your email, or that question from the annoying co-worker peeking over your cubicle to see what you are doing.

If you read my blog or visit the website, you must know the Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association DVD is on the market. If you don't know of the DVD, and you have even a passing interest in tools, trades, industries, history, &c, &c, then you really should know of it. Which brings us to the point of this post: Marketing the Chronicle DVD.

We'ld like to hear from you. Do you know of an organization that publishes a newsletter, journal or mailing list that would be interested in knowing of the digital Chronicle? Do you have a favorite hobby magazine whose readers might be interested (a magazine whose ad rates are affordable... non-profit organizations are not on the TARP list)? Do you have any other ideas for marketing the DVD?

Do you have a website or blog that can use a nifty Paypal button? We have the code for a simple Paypal button for purchasing the Chronicle DVD. You can see it in action here, which is the same as it was when you first clicked on the Chronicle link in the second paragraph. Take a look in the side bar to see what the button looks like (but without the border, that's my addition for my website). You can see it's compact and to the point, courtesy of Jim Esten's work.

What do you get in return for recommending a journal, newsletter, magazine or for hosting a Chronicle Paypal Button? Lots of good karma and the opportunity to help the EAIA. You don't have to be an EAIA member, although if you are not, you really should be.

Drop me a line or comment on this blog. If you are interested in the Paypal button, I'll be in touch with you to discuss how to get it installed (really easy, it's just a bunch of packaged markup code).

Till next
Gary

Another Christiansen Workbench

Over at The Village Carpenter, Kari shows us a workbench she has been using to hold up clutter. Now de-clutterized, it begins to look like the real thing. With some minor prodding, Kari came forth with the name on the bench vise collar: C. Christiansen Chicago ILL. Seems Mr. Christiansen's work is coming up all over with the spring flowers. Back a ways I featured another bench by the Christiansen family.

Shortly after that post, I heard from a grandson of Mr. Christiansen. Seems the family was in the workbench making business for quite some time. My memory seems to say up until the 1940's? I have to dig up that email. In short, they made workbenches for shops as well as for vocational schools and for the manual arts movement of the turn of the century.

Everyone who speaks of these benches raves about them. That they still exist and are in working order attests to the quality of their make. So if you have a Christiansen workbench, please step forward and make yourself known. It's high time we assembled a gallery of this families endeavors.

Get in touch with me through the email link on this blog if you have anything to contribute. Ads, catalogs, newspaper clippings, photographs, whatever. They say three times is a charm and this one fits the bill.

Till next (and awaiting a veritable landslide of C. Christiansen memorabilia)
Gary

......................

And this just today from Sam of Arizona:

"On Aug 23, 2009, at 6:31 PM, sam wrote:

I was just working in my shop and thought that I would try to identify my old bench. It is a Christiansen bench measuring about 86" by 30". It has a vise on the front left and another vise on the right end on the side. Both vises are wood screw types. The bench has the open frame as a base.
 
It has a history. When I was a child, I saw it in my grandfather's basement. After my grandfather passed on, the bench came to my father. Then on my father's passing, it became my workbench. Originally it was in my gradnfather's basement in New Castle, PA. When we moved to Wickenburg, AZ , the bench came with us. I am now 70 years old, so this bench has seen a lot of action.
 
I read one of your posts and you asked for peopel to tell youabout their Christiansen benches. So, I thought I'd pass this along to you.
 
Do you know of any way to date or price these workbenches......not that it is going anywhere soon."

"The Five Plagues (CADEG)"

Not plaque. This is not a reference to that visit to the Dentist you have been putting off. The full quote reads:

"The Five Plagues (CADEG): Customers, Authors, Distribution, Editors, Google"

There's a blog that I regularly read, known by the title Self Publishing 2.0. Morris Rosenthal, the originator and owner of the blog, is both an advocate of self-publishing, a commentator on the well-being or lack thereof regarding the general publishing industry and a general all around joy to read.

Within the confines of a blog post, Morris always manages to state his case, supply supporting evidence (or simply say it's his opinion) and draw the commentary to a conclusion. Which is more than I can say for many journalistic endeavors, not to mention your average novel. I hate it when a novelist takes the easy way out, pulls a Deus Ex Machina and wraps up a complex narrative in one last chapter, leaving you wondering what just happened?

Needless to say, I find myself agreeing with Morris' comments. If I didn't, I wouldn't be reading his blog. Yes, I am a biased blog reader. I only read what I agree with.

On customers:
"Aren't customers just awful? So demanding and so disloyal. Why can't they all just sign up (with a credit card) to purchase every book you publish?"

On publishers:
"If publishers could only produce books without authors, what a paradise publishing would be."

On distributors:
"Distribution was invented by the Devil. First the distributors want discounts ranging from 55% to 75%, and then they want to return the travel worn books! What do they think, that dust jackets grow on trees?"

On editors:
"After a few years, editors start thinking that they're somebody!"

On Google:
"Then there's Google, with their damn search and destroy engine, breaking down the monopoly on information long held by publishers."

Following these friendly rants, comes:

"The Five Blessings (GEDAC): Google, Editors, Distribution, Authors, Customers"

You'll just have to head over to Self Publishing 2.0 to read the rest.

Till next, Gary