Replies

1. 
   BG | Dec 15, 2006 03:05pm | #1

   coolbreeze,
   It really depends on what 'kind of learner' he is. Personally, I'm a visual learner and got about ten times more benefit from a video than a book. I read David Charlesworth books and then saw the video; holy mackarel, what a difference for me...

2. 
   pzgren | Dec 15, 2006 06:49pm | #2

   Coolbreeze,

     Try any of these:

        Hand Tools (Aldren Watson)

        Old Ways of Working Wood (Alex Bealer)

        The Handplane Book (Garrett Hack)

        Choosing and Using Hand Tools (Andy Rae)

        Restoring, Tuning, and Using Classic Handtools (Mike Dunbar)

        Traditional Woodworking Handtools (Graham Blackburn)

        Taunton's Best of/New Best of FWW On Hand Planes

        The Woodworker's Guide to Hand Tools (Peter Korn)

        Classic Hand Tools (Garrett Hack)

     The plane chapters in each of the books (except Hack's Handplane Book, which, of course, is completely devoted to hand planes) are very good, thorough, and detailed. My favorites, in addition to Hack's book, are Blackburn's book, the FWW book, and Watson's book. The rest are also very good (and are in my reference library, for whatever that may be worth).

     There is another good book, called Planecraft, that is a reprint of an old British book from the 30s. It is oriented toward Record planes, but has gobs of good info in it (I have to warn you that it sometimes it reads like a book-length advertisement for Record planes, but the information and the techniques described are very useful and informative). It also has the virtue of being relatively inexpensive ($10 IIRC; definitely less than $15) and available at any Woodcraft store.

     Hope this helps you find a good book or two for your B-I-L. (Lucky devil -- the LN #4 is a really nice plane!)

   Beste Wünschen auf eine Fröhlichen Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr!

   Tschüß!

   Mit freundlichen holzbearbeitungischen Grüßen aus dem Land der Rio Grande!!

   James

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   Edited 6/7/2007 2:44 pm by pzgren

   
   

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   Edited 6/7/2007 2:46 pm by pzgren

1. 
   coolbreeze | Dec 16, 2006 06:44am | #4

   Boy, I hit the motherlode with your reply. I will file it for future reference.

   Are you living in Germany? I can't quite get my keyboard to produce the characters you do. I have been to Germany 4 or 5 times. The first time, I thought ausfahrt was a big city:>)

1. 
   pzgren | Dec 18, 2006 08:01am | #6

   Coolbreeze, Glad the book list was of use to you.
   They can be produced by using the "alt" key (on a PC) and a 4-digit number (0xxx) to produce the special characters. When I get to work tomorrow, I'll dig up the address to a web site (one of very many -- this one has it in a nice chart form) that has all of the ASCII character codes and send it to you.
   No, I am not currently living in Germany. Last trip there ended in 1998. Have a serious urge to return, though, and spend a couple more years there; great place to live!!Beste Wünschen auf eine Fröhlichen Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr!

   Tschüß!

   Mit freundlichen holzbearbeitungischen Grüßen aus dem Land der Rio Grande!!

   James

3. 
   dherzig | Dec 15, 2006 11:29pm | #3

   I would definitely get him the videos by Jim Kingshott and/or Rob Cosman. In spite of having spent a week in a class with Garrett Hack, I found that all the books I had read made much more sense after having seen those videos. I relook at them regularly and see something more in them each time as I do more and more with the planes.

1. 
   coolbreeze | Dec 16, 2006 06:50am | #5

   Thanks for the tip. I like video's also. I read everything about dovetails but really learned more watching videos. I may just get my B-I-L and myself a video with each being different. We can then swap back and forth.