Posts

How To Make An 18th Century Iron Leg Vise

Image
The Making Of An Iron Leg Vise From the Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert Ever wonder how long the classic Blacksmith's iron leg vise has been around and how it was made by hand? Here is Plate No. 6 from the  Encyclopédie  volume on the making of tools. Think about that. You have to make tools in order to make tools. Without modern machinery. By hand. In a forge. With Plate 6 of Taillanderie, Suite de la fabrique des Etaux , now you can make your own iron leg vise. Let me know when you're finished with this project. A bit of history on Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert: Back in 1765 Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert published the  Encyclopédie. " André le Breton , a bookseller and printer, approached Diderot with a project for the publication of a translation of  Ephraim Chambers '  Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences  into French, first undertaken by the Englishman  John Mills , and followe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Our Workshop 1866 & The Lathe And How To Use It 1867, ISBN: 9781523385560

Image
Our Workshop 1866 & The Lathe And How To Use It 1867 by Temple Thorold ISBN:  9781523385560 Amazon Publishing Affiliate Link "It is our intention to notice many things, however trivial, that may in any way serve to enlighten our readers respecting the joiner's art." Our Workshop 1866 & The Lathe And How To Use It 1867  features two of the earliest English language Manual Arts texts written exclusively for British adolescents attending public or private schools.  Written with a directness and clarity seldom found in nineteenth century text books,  Our Workshop & The Lathe And How To Use It  represents an invaluable period resource for the modern traditional woodworker as well as the educator interested in applying the practices of Slöjd or Manual Arts Education to classwork. Gary Roberts, Toolemera Press publisher, returns to print classic books on early crafts, trades and industries. All titles are produced from the originals in his personal collecti...
Post a Comment
Read more

Edo Period Architecture

Image
Edo Period Shoji Design Here is one of the many Edo period shoji screen photos from the book I am updating. This is a glass plate negative, printed in halftone. Now that I know the book was produced by architects as an historical record of Edo period designs taken from the original buildings, the importance of this book as a record of Japanese architectural design means it's time for an edited reprint.
Post a Comment
Read more

In The Works: Japanese Edo Period Shoji

Image
  Japanese Edo Period Shoji While researching the original of the Shoji And Kumiko book I published some time ago, I ran the images through Google Translate and asked for some advice from the subRed:Translator. The subRed matched what the new Google Translate translated. Clearly Google has been doing something right. What I realized is the book was published in 1934 but the designs were drawn from Edo period architecture and published in 1920. The glass plate photographs are of existing Edo period architecture. Here is the lead to what will shortly be my updated edition: Frozen Music A Collection Of Japanese Edo Period Architectural Shoji Designs Author: Torazo Ito (Shikizo Ito)* Publisher: Kogyo Shoin; Tokyo, Japan 1920, 1934 “Printed on the 9th year of Taisho (1920) October 6th”. The original drawings and text had been published 14 years prior to the 1934 Kogyo Shoin publication dates. The author and publisher considered the illustrations to be important Edo Period design referen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japanese Architectural Texts

Image
 Japanese Architectural Texts Some years ago I purchased a number of old Japanese texts on architecture, furniture, textiles and carpentry. This was way before the current western interest in traditional Japanese woodworking. A few of the texts I sold and some I kept. Being the former librarian that I am, those I sold were first scanned for my archives. While organizing said archives, I came upon those scans.  Over on Reddit there is a subreddit r/translator , the place for having text and images translated to and from whatever language is unknown. At first I wasn't sure if anyone there could translate some of the older texts. Not a problem. There are a few Redditors there who took the challenges and came through! Lucky me, lucky you. The translation of the image at the head of this post reads: "Hiwada" or "Hikawa", referring to the bark of the Hinoki Cypress tree. Traditionally, it is used on the roofs of temples and shrines. However in this image, it appears a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Union Iron And Wood Planes Trade Catalog

Image
Union Iron And Wood Planes Pocket Catalog Undated pocket catalog for the famous Union planes, featuring the vertical post version. Union Iron And Wood Planes
Post a Comment
Read more

An Etymology Of Woodworking Draw Knives

Image
An Etymology Of Draw Knives aka Draw Shaves What's the difference between a Draw Knife and a Draw Shave? Nothing more than regional and trade preferences. At least in the United States. I won't go into the Other Side Of The Pond. During the later part of the 20th century and nearly entirely during the 21st century we have lost all sight of the plethora of special purpose tools, each specific to a trade or use. For this post, I'll stick with Draw Knife for simplicity.  Here are sample pages from the C. E. Jennings & Co. and L.& I. J. .White Co., each representative of turn of the 19th to 20th century edge tool manufacturers. Here in the 21st. century, everything is a Draw Knife, regardless of form or blade.  This post should clear up this woeful misattribution of titles for those of use pedantically inclined. Warning! These period correct examples will further confuse you. Manufacturers made and titles tools according to the many regional and trade preferences, not n...
Post a Comment
Read more

PrintsAntiquA