First off, disinfect your keyboard cause I'm sneezing all over the place. Ok? Done?
William Klenke wrote a handful of books for the Manual Arts Press.
- Art And Education In Wood-Turning
- Furniture Joinery
- Joints And How They Are Made
I recently picked up a copy of the third book, Joints And How They Are Made, 1925. In 69 pages, Klenke covers all the most common woodworking joints. Written for the student as well as the instructor, Klenke excelled at writing with a clarity that has always impressed me. Illustrations are added when needed, as are photographs. True, the photos are taken from Glass Plate negatives, but that was cutting edge for the day.
Klenke was an instructor in the Newark, New Jersey school system as well as a registered architect. Although I, as a born New Yorker, have had it ingrained in me that northern New Jersey is not a place that Proper People come from, Klenke's abode there must change my opinion of the denizens of that State on the other side of the Hudson.
Many decades ago I discounted Klenke's books as too simplistic, too beneath my attention as a Woodworker. Silly me. That was when Woodcraft the store was just starting out, when artiture was in vogue and when I wore bell bottom jeans. 'Nuff said.
These guys knew something what they was talkin' about. Can you imagine if they had had online video back then?
Till next, Gary





