Toolemera Blog

Todays Old Book: Joints And How They Are Made

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

The Simplicity of Beginning

I really hated that movie, The Terrible Lightness of Being. But, it made for a decent, if bent, blog title.

The more I review manual arts era books for students and instructors, the more I am convinced the advent of the space age has wreaked havoc upon the world of craftsmanship. Microns, nanos, millimeters, dial gauges and laser finders don't make for better craftsmanship, they just make for more tsuris.

Soap Box Warning!

You don't have to over complicate craft in order to do it well. If you're working a metal lathe, you may need that level of precision. If you're working wood, textiles, paper, clay, etc., you don't.

Many of the manual arts books written for the student did not lapse into the retentive precision we so love today. Many of the books figured that the reader had sufficient ingenuity to work out minor details based upon the tool, the material and the end goal. Today, we are so engulfed by the need to do it Right, do it Fast and do it According To The Rules that the pleasure in doing can be lost. Maybe that's why I simply couldn't get into the book Soul Craft. Way too much over thinking for my taste.

Worrall's A Matter With You?

I confess, I have a thing for wierd tools. Plane Jane tools don't rock my boat. Here is one I recently won on that auction site for a nice price. 

It's an early Worrall's patent transitional jack plane, the narrow version. The toe stamp reads "Multiform Moulding Plane Co., Patent Applied For". That 'appplied for' part is icing on my gluten free cake. BTW, the photo is not mine, it's from the listing. Soon as I get a battery for my new/old Nikon D40, photos will be mine.

The tote tip was broken long in the past. It's held on with four cut nails. The round strike just aft of the front knob is missing so a reproduction will be in order. Otherwise, all the parts are there on one of the more peculiar plane inventions. For all that, these do turn up and so it must have been a moderate success.

This plane is so heavy, I can easily see it in use for cleaning up rough lumber. This one also makes up for a Worrall's patent jointer I missed out on a few years ago at a local auction. I was dozing and missed the bid. $40. Ouch.

Till next, Gary

Google+?

I'm beginning to experience Prince deja vu. How do you say Google+? Do you pronounce the Plus? Is it GoogleAnd? Why did Google pick a Shift character?

Moaning aside, Google+ (perhaps I'll call it G+) looks like the first Facebook killer to actually work. Personally, I don't like FB. It's an annoying interface that only gets more annoying as time passes. The movie was good.

From now until infinity and beyond, you'll see a little +1 button at the end of each blog post as well as the page footer. Google, in it's typical I Am King Of The World mode, decided that the stinky masses don't need them to spell out what +1 is. You will know it when you see it.

Why not G+? That would make so much more sense. +1 sounds like a reservation at a hotel or something similarly sinister.

As soon as I figure out what to do with yet another social networking thingy, I'll do something with it just because it looks friendlier than FB or Twitter.

Till +1 next, Gary

How To Pack A Yankee

Recently I heard from Jack in Vermont (full names and addresses have been deleted to protect those innocent until proven guilty). He had seen a post of mine in the Woodnet forum lamenting my typical loss to others of Yankee drill presses.

Strangely enough, Jack had a Yankee, North Bros. #1005 drill press that had been in his possesion for 25 years. Recently he had decided to clear up some shop space and so felt it an appropriate time for the 1005 to find a new home. For a very reasonable price, Jack offered to pack and ship the drill press from North in Vermont to the South in Massachusetts. I suggested a mass of foam peanuts and a sturdy cardboard box.

For a Vermonter, this suggestion simply would not do. Jack made sure the 1005 would survive it's harrowing journey intact and unscarred by the experience. Thanks also to UPS, the package was mailed on one day and received by me the next day. Replete with the obligatory 10 month old cat, and quite possibly another one or two poking around, here is Jack's thesis on How To Pack A Yankee.