Need everyones opinion on a series of books
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So i saw that there is a series of books that is coming out as a reprint soon and they looked rather interesting. I cant figure out how to imbed the link so i will just paste it here, its to Popular Woodworking i hope that is alright. http://www.shopwoodworking.com/kotm-practical-woodworker-4-vol-set?lid=DFpwnl071013&et_mid=627371&rid=237820888
The series is called Practical Woodworker
Seems to me to be a fairly complete set of books on hand tool woodworking from the 1920’s, and im just curious if anyone has any experience with these books or any thoughts on them.I saw that and was tempted to order them myself Stephen. I have bought several books from Popular Woodworking and Lost Art Press, generally they are good quality books. I don’t know anything more about this series other than what I read in the ad.
Memphis, Tennessee
Quote from Megan
And here’s a link to download a scanned copy of his entire introduction (which I had to produce on the copy machine, because the printer PDFs are so large that I can’t down-sample them enough to serve via our blog):
Interesting, yes.
I commend PWW for reproducing these books, and $85 seems like a fair price for four well bound books. I love paging through old WW texts, but I would categorize this as luxury item for myself given the information I have currently.
I am surprised that these four volumes have not already been scanned and made available at archive.org, chestofbooks.com or openlibrary.org.
Here is a brief review of someone’s comparison of the more recent (abridged) reproduction and a set of the originals.
-Scott Los Angeles
It looks like a nice set. The question for me is this: do I want to spend $85 on a book or a another tool from eBay?
Robin ... Richmond, Virginia, USA
It does look like a very nice set of books, but i thought to myself that it just seems like a luxury. It would be something that would sit on my self that i look at occasionally. So i decided against buying them. Probably just going to save up to buy a router plane. Thank you to everyone who gave input on it
I have an original pressing of these books and can 100% say that they are worth every penny. They do pop up on eBay from time to time (which is where I got mine) and if you are lucky you can get them cheap. The first book is mainly about using hand tools and making joints but the other 3 is where the books a invaluable, they go into great detail on how to make furniture, benches, garden items and a huge list of other things, a constant source of inspiration and knowledge. If you make things the old fashioned way these books are a must.
Matt
I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet on this set. About a week ago I put it in my shopping cart, but when I went to pay for it there was no option to pay. I was finally able to call and see what the problem was, and apparently it is already sold out.
I read in Megan’s blog where Tools For Working Wood and Lee Vally both ordered copies to sell, and should be available soon. I checked this morning and was able to order from Tools For Worrkimg Wood for $85 with free shipping.
I do hope this is worth all the excitement!
Memphis, Tennessee
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