Making
Woodwork Aids & Devices
by Robert
Wearing
Softcover
160 x 200mm
218pp
Published by Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd, East Sussex UK
R.R.P.$29.90
ISBN 1-86108-129-4
As reviewed in The Australian Woodworker Issue 22
There are 203 items mentioned in the book. Each is a device which is used to make a particular woodworking task easier or more accurate - a reflection on the fact that the more woodworking one does, the more one resorts to devising and fabricating jigs, clamps, etc. to overcome problems.
The author, Robert Wearing, notes that woodworkers have had many of the same problems since the very beginnings of their craft and over the centuries the solutions have been similar. Even today, a woodworker may invent, out of his own ingenuity, a device which others have used for years. It is to help eliminate some of repetition, that Mr Wearing has compiled descriptions of over 200 useful gadgets. He expects the reader will either know about or have already discovered some of them, but there should still be many of interest (particularly for the less experienced woodworker).
All the devices listed are relatively quick and simple to make - mostly from offcuts. They are therefore excellent projects for the workshop when there is little time or no materials for anything else. The range of items include clamps, marking and drawing devices and sundry tools for various purposes. There are aids for the lathe, sawbench, drill and disc sander. Some defy categorisation but are useful nonetheless.
Mr Wearing is English, but the information he provides is universally applicable to woodworking everywhere. Metric and their imperial equivalent are given where dimensions are mentioned, but the intention of the book is essentially to describe the device and leave it to the reader to choose the sizes that best suit his or her application. Also, it may sometimes be useful to make two or more copies of the one item, differing in size for different uses.
Making Woodwork Aids and Devices can be recommended to both the novice and the more experienced woodworker.
Photos: Black & White
Units of Measurement: Metric & Imperial
Contents
Introduction
Holding devices
Marking aids
Tools
Lathe aids
Drilling aids
Sawbench aids
Miscellany
Drawing aids
Disc sanding aids