The new book... anyone else have it yet?

[John A. Callaway]

I know a bunch of guys pre ordered it, but my copy just arrived today. I will start reading it this evening or tomorrow afternoon. Also, Kudos to Lost art Press for publishing books with classic covers and colors, they look great on the shelf...

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j87/trainman0978/IMAG0951.jpg

For those that have readit, any thoughts so far?

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I got mine a while back now. Read it. I enjoyed it a lot; Chris' writing style really shone through on this one. Unlike a couple of his book type things, I didn't walk away at the end thinking, "gee, I already read most of that in old articles he wrote." I like his discussion of the whys for some of his particular choices in construction, and the whole first half of the book, the concept of boiling things down to the essentials, and having fewer, but nicer tools, and how living in general with handcrafted things where appropriate, and opting out of a disposable, cheap consumerism as conscious choice was nice to read. I think I already agreed with a lot of his premises, but seeing someone else's take on it was nice and made me think about my own beliefs in a little more detail.

[Brander Roullett]

I'm nearly done reading (the first time) and I'm pretty pleased with it.

The whole tool section is great.

It gets a tad preachy at times, but I can totally relate to where he is coming from. I am going to read it a few times for sure, lots of great information.

badger

[Mike Givney]

+1 on what Joshua said. I found his insight and comments on the tack society has taken toward a mentality that accepts disposable products to be spot on. He put in to words my feelings about our chosen crafts, quality, and what is important in life. Oh, and, nice box !

[Casey Gooding]

I pre-ordered it and got it several weeks ago. Since I'm only about an hour from them, I got it the day after they started shipping. I really like this book. It contains a great amount of information and I really like Chris' writing style.

[Dave Ring]

Yup! The book is a terrific amalgam of hard, practical knowledge and fire-breathing, pulpit-pounding preaching.

While I believe that any literate handtool woodworker would enjoy and learn from it I would say that "The Anarchist's Toolchest" should be required reading for anyone beginning to work wood by hand. It will save you a lot of money and a lot of fooling around.

[Dave Lehnert]

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Glad to hear the book is out. I will have to place my order.

Little over a month ago I got to spend a Saturday afternoon at the Popular Woodworking shop with Chris S. Here are some photo's I took of the tool chest he built.

Not sure if everyone knows that Chris S. quit his job at popular Woodworking to work full time at his Lost Art Press business.

[Rob Fisher]

Yup! The book is a terrific amalgam of hard, practical knowledge and fire-breathing, pulpit-pounding preaching.

While I believe that any literate handtool woodworker would enjoy and learn from it I would say that "The Anarchist's Toolchest" should be required reading for anyone beginning to work wood by hand. It will save you a lot of money and a lot of fooling around.

I totally agree. I am an aspiring hand tool junky and this definitely got me thinking about what I truly need to do the projects that I am interested in.

And "fire-breathing, pulpit-pounding" says it perfectly. Really, a great book.

[David Keller NC]

Yep, excellent book. I'm halfway through it, and it has an "the emperor has no clothes aspect" about it, specifically the point that purchasing tools in a particular price range just because a few more dollars either offends one's sensibilities or pocketbook is a fool's errand. My take on it is that he's saying something that inappropriately gets re-hashed on forums over, and over, and over, and over again - that one doesn't necessarily need to purchase on the high end of things - that's an aesthetic choice. But the stores are full of "tool shaped objects", and purchasing those simply because one doesn't immediately have the money for an entire kit of LN/LV/Blue Spruce tools absolutely ensures that you'll purchase twice (or maybe way more than twice).

[Edward Clarke]

I bought the book too and am in the process of reading it now. So far, I like it a lot.

WTH(eck) is that thing in picture #3, on the right? It's in with measuring tools but it looks like a brass and rosewood cup.

[David Keller NC]

I bought the book too and am in the process of reading it now. So far, I like it a lot.

WTH(eck) is that thing in picture #3, on the right? It's in with measuring tools but it looks like a brass and rosewood cup.

That's a brass carver's mallet. Not my preference, but a lot of carvers/woodworkers like them for their small size and high density.

[Trevor Walsh]

Pre-ordered it, read it, and loved it. This is just the sort of cut-the-crap straight talking the modern hand tool user needs to hear. Dave Ring's comment "for beginners" certainly so. I wish I'd read this when I first got heavy into hand tools about a year and a half ago. I thought I was buying a book about how to design a tool chest for my kit, but it's so much more than that, it's how we should feel about our craft compared to pocket-screw and edge-banding "woodwork" that's as timeless as paper mache in a hurricane.

Schwarz really inspired my "against consumerism" sentiments, and I'm happy for that.

[David Weaver]

My take on it is that he's saying something that inappropriately gets re-hashed on forums over, and over, and over, and over again - that one doesn't necessarily need to purchase on the high end of things - that's an aesthetic choice. But the stores are full of "tool shaped objects", and purchasing those simply because one doesn't immediately have the money for an entire kit of LN/LV/Blue Spruce tools absolutely ensures that you'll purchase twice (or maybe way more than twice).

And once he writes it, we're guaranteed to hear it over and over and over.

The third choice is to buy cheaply, but in an educated way, and spend some time modifying tools as needed. It does not take long to learn to do this. Make one good plane, one good chisel and you're most of the way to being educated.

On the high end of things, before I got the boot "elsewhere" for trolling the trolls, I got tired of hearing a bunch of people bringing up holtey planes every six months and then belittling the guy having never talked to him and having never spent 200 hours making a plane. Or even 50.

Some forums are mob mentality more than others. This one (the ht side) seems to have slowed down to more on-topic materials, and while there may be a spat from time to time, it never feels groupist and the isolated schwartz replay comments seem to be once and done.

[Tony Shea]

Thanks for the reveiws, just ordered a copy. Always looking for a good new WW/philosophical book. Not just some boring this is how its built book.

[Matthew Hills]

I had been largely ignoring the book -- the title and cover art were off-putting to me, and I didn't know what it was about.
But I did end up ordering it somewhat impulsively a couple of weeks back (I had decided to order Wearing's book, and tossed this in as a me-too).

I've enjoyed reading it:
- the themes were more poignant with the other changes he's making in life at this point
- the survey of tools was well-done. Normally I abhor tool surveys at the start of a book. They are often useless filler at the start of a book briefly mentioning classes of tools but providing little beyond vocabulary. Works in this book because it is relevant to the theme and is given sufficient attention to present quite a bit of useful information (sharpening auger bits, etc.). Did find it interesting that he largely avoided suggesting specific brands/models.
- who else would write "Eastern white [pine] is the most hand-tool friendly. It's shockingly friendly--like wearing a tube top friendly." I don't know any other WW writer who has as much fun with the writing. And it works.
- I'm mid-way through the chest build. Not sure that I'll build one, but still interesting. I am curious how he would make the tongue&grooved bottom with the tool list he provides at the start.

I think the title is a bit of a stretch and the cover art still reminds me of a free-masonish symbol from a conspiracy movie. Minor quibbles. I found that I liked the dust-jacketless design.

My strongest dislike was the typography. The main body text was clean, but I disliked the other typefaces used:
-the labelmaker chapter headings seemed out-of-date when I saw that style used in the 1980's. Wasn't sure if this was selected for some sense of the subversive. At least we were spared the "ransom" font.
-Felt that quotations set in Cochin Italic were hard to read

These typefaces seem at odds with the book's theme of paring down to that which is essential and stands the test of time. But, I've read another review that really liked the use of labelmaker, so these opinions are clearly a matter of taste.


Matt

[Chris Fournier]

The Anarchists guide to Anachronistic tools. That's funny. I'm not sure why anyone needs to pound a pulpit about this when it's patently obvious that "handtools really do work... No honestly they do..."

Handtools and anarchy as bed fellows? Anything but and certainly not by definition but it sounds bold and puts a bit of social/idealogical danger into my otherwise quiet and contemplative craft. Oh I'm bad baby, you should see my bow saw...

I'll give the author this much, he sure knows how to keep mining a long ago depleted vein. The presses must continue to run...

[Matthew Hills]

I'll give the author this much, he sure knows how to keep mining a long ago depleted vein. The presses must continue to run...

The term "anarchist" is meant to tie in with the older mutualism movement. Still, a bit of a stretch to modern readers, for whom the term has other, stronger associations.

Curiously, there is an unnumbered chapter on power tools -- they receive the same evaluation as his hand tools, although with less treatment of the uses (I assume he feels that since these are now the norm, less explanation is needed (pun intended)).

The book is more personal than dogmatic.

The Krenov's book I'm also reading is a marked contrast in focus.

Mat

[Chris Griggs]

I got a couple weeks ago and am about halfway through it. When I first got it I skimmed through it and was honestly a bit disappointed at first. Initially it did seem to just be a lot of stuff rehashed from his blog. Then, I actually started reading it from the beginning and realized that while there is some amount of repeat info, he really elaborates on his reasoning behind using any given tool/technique.

My favorite part of the book are his first power tools recommendations... 1. thickness planer 2. bandsaw 3. hollow-chisel mortiser.

I almost never use my table saw or router anymore, but I can't count the number of times I wished for a thickness planer and bandsaw to get through the "grunt work" parts of my projects. Although no. 3 for me would be a drill press, instead of a hollow chisel mortiser.

Overall I like the book. Though its not what I expected (thought the book would have more information on building different types of tool chests), it's definitely worth buying and reading.

[David Keller NC]

And once he writes it, we're guaranteed to hear it over and over and over.

The third choice is to buy cheaply, but in an educated way, and spend some time modifying tools as needed. It does not take long to learn to do this. Make one good plane, one good chisel and you're most of the way to being educated.

Yeah, but that's a good thing. Chris isn't necessarily correct on all the topics that he writes on, and a good deal of it is subjective and one man's opinion. But reading any book by any author that prefaces every section with the disclaimer that it's just his (or her) opinion is excruciatingly tiresome, and just plain bad creative writing.

And while it seems straightforward to go on a rust hunt and learn to restore these tools to good working order, there are many, many folks that will not only not even consider purchasing anything used, and they have zero interest in learning how to make them work better with the exception of basic sharpening skills on straight blades. I know lots of them in the local WW community, but IMO one shouldn't be required to learn how to fix wooden planes, re-handle chisels, straighten saws, and make marking knives as an entry barrier to hand tool woodworking. We've got enough of those already.:)

[Trevor Walsh]

Agreed, David. The will always be purist-ists even among a group of purists ( I'd call the HT woodworkers pursits, no doubt). Sometimes I feel crazy, filing grinding or doing whatever to make or get a tool I might buy, then I ask, "Why am I doing this instead of buying the tool and working with wood?" Sometimes it is fun, other times it's just getting in the way.

[Gary Roberts]

(coming out of lurk mode for a bit) Really interesting comments here. I haven't bought a copy yet and am undecided still. This is the first forum thread I've seen that takes a balanced approach to reviewing the book. As an ex-social psych major in undergraduate years, I'm still perplexed at the combination of the social anarchist and woodworking, but that's just my head I guess. The social anarchist wants more freedom in decision making and doing and less oppression by a controlling body. Less rules not more.

Maybe if the price comes down as it's a bit pricey for me just now. Though I do like the cloth covers. I'ld love to do that type of cover on my books but if I did, all I can get is blue or gray, gold lettering on the spine and nothing on the front cover. Way to bland for my tastes I guess.

Back to lurking.
Gary

[Trevor Walsh]

I think his anarchism tie and woodworking could be summed up in the notion that; in the age of American consumerism where we are told that particle board Ikea and disposable furniture is normal and expected, we (woodworkers) not only decide that permanent-ish goods are favorable, it's also preferable to make our own, with hand tools (perhaps mostly). Talking so some people about why I woodwork they seem as perplexed as if I told them I perform my own open heart surgery instead of using a cardiac surgeon. Building your own "large goods" is seen as a weird thing, or using out dated technology. How could a rope bed for instance compete with a box spring? In truth I think it's got comparable support at a fraction of the cost, that is lighter, and uses less material.

But we invented box springs, so you'd have to be crazy to want to use the old technology, even if it's smarter.