Kind of getting interested in hand tools. Is Fine Tool Journal worth the money? What kind of info will it give me? Any other magazines I should look into for Hand tools?
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Kind of getting interested in hand tools. Is Fine Tool Journal worth the money? What kind of info will it give me? Any other magazines I should look into for Hand tools?
FTJ, IMO is a collector's magazine oriented towards collectors. A similar mag is put out by the Midwest Tool Collectors. Both have occasional articles of general interest. If you are "just getting interested" and perhaps would benefit from more basic descriptions and how-to's, Popular Woodworking has developed a pretty good HT focus, among its other offerings.
I don't subscribe to the journal but you can buy Lie Nielsen stuff on their website at a discount with free shipping last time I checked. I bought my rabbeting block plane and beading tool through them and they were brand new LN inventory. Now I just need more cash so I can pick up a whole line up of LN bench planes and retire my old Stanleys.
I would recommend checking with your local library for a couple books:
Traditional woodworking handtools by Graham Blackburn
Classic handtools by Garret Hack
They provided tons of information to help me figure out what handtools can do, how to use them & what tools I would like to acquire.
This is a fine source of information (in my opinion) for hand tool work; but they do not offer "subscriptions" yet. You can order/backorder individual issues. Otherwise you have to wait for it to hit the news-stands every few months.
http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/
Jim in Idaho
Based on the two editions of Woodworking Magazine that I own, I would have to agree with Jim's suggestion above. It has some very useful articles.
Be sure to check out Fine Woodworking magazine also.
The best $12 you'll ever spend is a little green book entitled:
"Planecraft: Hand Planing by Modern Methods"
by C.W. Hampton & E. Clifford
It is an exact reprint of the original published in 1934. It covers everything from the history to sharpening and usage. Later chapters are dedicated to rabbeting, plowing, etc.
I'll second Classic Handtools. Get it with his handplane book from Amazon & I think you get a small discount. Both are great books.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Craven