Your top 10 hand tools for a beginner

[Andy Kev.]

That review of The Anarchist's Toolchest did rather put me off. :lol:

It looks a bit bitter and twisted to me and all that stuff about mid-life crisis is sadly no more than the reviewer revealing his own prejudice and of course it has no relevance to the book - unless of course he can show that the author was undergoing a midlife crisis at the time of writing.

Anyway, I thought my review (see Reviews section for anybody who may be interested) was fairer, mercifully much shorter and it did generate a hilarious discussion. :mrgreen:

Not really, nearly all reviews are good about ATC, it's actually healthy to read alternative views. You can also watch here for free https://vimeo.com/155917528 . I really enjoyed the look of the tool chest and made one with all the info that was provided on the Lost Art Press blog. Very pleased with it too! After putting some money aside and bought a copy of the book. I thought the blue book on workbenches was a very good piece of work and had high hopes for ATC. However after digesting the contents it seemed to be a strange moral compass, using a provocative title which borrows from a cult book from the 70's with little or no information that was helpful to a woodworker that knows their own mind. It seemed to rely more on journalism and writing skills.
If you need help working out why you want to make something then this could be for you! Thankfully LAP sells the "Essential Woodworker" and more recently the Hayward project. I'd personally refer people to those works, written by experienced and skilled woodworkers and finished to a high standard by a publisher with a fine eye for detail. Much more helpful than the hand-wringing of a midlife crisis.

I've got no difficulty at all with somebody writing a negative review of the ATC or indeed of any other book which I like. However, for a review (positive or negative) to be credible a case has to be sensibly made. The midlife crisis nonsense is, I'm afraid, just nonsense. For it to make sense the reviewer would have to demonstrate that Schwarz was undergoing such a crisis and that said crisis led to the writing of the book. He fails signally to do that which of course represents a severe blow to his credibility.

I know that some people find the title controversial but as you know he makes it quite clear in the book that the "Anarchist" of the title refers to American aesthetic anarchism which essentially has bog all to do with what we in Europe understand by the term. Whether one finds that a sensible line to take or not is of course another matter altogether. Personally, I like the book because I stumbled on it at the right time and it saved me from making a lot of mistakes in building up a tool kit.

 

[G S Haydon]

Whether you think it a credible or sensible case is subjective. The book smacks of midlife issues as much as comb-over and sports car does. I read that description about the title too, fair enough. I'm likely not cultured enough to understand "aesthetic anarchism", sadly I did not have enough time to take a philosophy degree before becoming a joiner. It would seem odd to me that anyone in publishing or journalism, using a title that uses the cult premise "The Anarchist............" would of done so purely on a small fragment of the wider topic of "Anarchism". I think it's good marketing! It's seems however disingenuous not to acknowledge that marketing ploy, perhaps clever marketing is not part of anarchy. I have no idea!

Great that it enabled a positive experience for you, I'm sure that it has for countless others too. Strangely for me it did the opposite and lead me to try things that proved worse and more expensive.

 

[morfa]

There are also a couple of books which will help a lot:

The Essential Woodworker (this is a must have and can be bought at Classic Hand Tools here in the UK)

It would have to help a hell of a lot at this price:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Essen...868988?hash=item211677c5fc:g:7osAAOSwYIxX92Os

That's why you buy the reprint here:

https://www.classichandtools.com/acatal ... Press.html

Or the pdf from here:

https://lostartpress.com/products/the-e ... woodworker

FWIW, I do think The Anachists Toolchest is a good book. But if you only by one book, buy The Essential Woodworker. It has everything you'll ever really need. ATC is great, but not essential. You can find the tool list online and some of the suggestions are expensive.

 

[memzey]

I've not read the ATC but I agree that Wearing's Essential Woodworker is a great book. The clarity of writing and efficient use of English alone make it a good read. The fact that the subject matter is comprehensive and at the same time concise mean that a newbie woodworker can get an awful lot out of this book. The other book I find myself frequently returning to is Joyce's Technique of Furniture Making. Another excellent book but a lot heavier to carry on the train for reading on the way to work!

 

[lurker]

That review of The Anarchist's Toolchest did rather put me off. :lol:

It looks a bit bitter and twisted to me and all that stuff about mid-life crisis is sadly no more than the reviewer revealing his own prejudice and of course it has no relevance to the book - unless of course he can show that the author was undergoing a midlife crisis at the time of writing.

Anyway, I thought my review (see Reviews section for anybody who may be interested) was fairer, mercifully much shorter and it did generate a hilarious discussion. :mrgreen:

I just read the review and tend to agree with what the bloke says.
Mind you I have always thought Schwartz was too far up his own.......

All he was doing was making a heirloom piece rather than a practical bit of kit so classic mid life crisis

 

[Downwindtracker2]

I don't know the cost of Japanese waterstones in England , but in Canada the 1000/4000grit combination can be relatively inexpensive. I found I could get a sharper edge with them than oil stones.

 

[ED65]

Oilstone + stropping should yield an equivalent edge, close enough for government work at least.