Custom Tools for Woodworkers: Designing & Making Your Own

Rating:
Summary: Can you trust a woodworker to teach you about metal working?
Review: Perhaps. This man claims to have been making his own tools for over ten years when he wrote this book. And he had his father-in-law, Dr. John D. Harrison as a consultant for things metallurgical.

The author was a student of A. Weygers, and mentions two of Weyger's books, "Toolmaking" and "The Modern Blacksmith". Both of these books, with the addition of "THe Recycling, Use, and Repair of Tools" are reprinted in the book, "The Complete Modern Blacksmith"

It appears to me that Petrovich was trying to emulate Weygers' book with this book. Very wide margins were left on all the pages. In fact, almost half of each page is a margin. About one fourth of the margins have drawings in them. The drawings are in pencil and I cannot find any credit in the book as to who made the drawings. Presumably Petrovich himself.

The plan may have been to fill all the margins with drawings, like Weygers' book. Or maybe the reader is supposed to supply his own.

I don't think this book reaches the level of Weygers'. It does add some more detail. It gives a good discussion of metalurgy. It goes into detail about making certain items; chisel, gouge, drawknife, screw driver.

The first hundred pages are very basic and could be found in most blacksmithing books. Weygers, for one. Then you have about a hundred and twenty pages of projects. The projects are fairly simple.

A photo of some very pretty tools is shown on the cover. I don't know if Petrovich made them or not. A few like them are shown in the projects. There are some other tools there that I would have liked to see discussed.

My disappointments with the book are 1) it dwelt too long on the basics which can be found in many other books. 2) the 'project' section should be expanded to show more actual tool making and more items. 3) He writes like he is talking to a total dunce. Of course, I do have to take in consideration that he lives in California, so, he may have developed this habit out of necessity. 4) I would like more illustrations.

This is basically another beginners blacksmith book, but with the twist that it is written for woodworkers.

Rating:
Summary: Custom Tools for Woodworkers
Review: This is a terrific book! It has all the basics for not only designing but making your own tools. It is a great book for reference and is begginer-friendly. The illustrations help with the step by step procedures and are wonderfully detailed. J. Petrovich is a very talented woodworker and has been so for over thirty years. This is an absolute must for any woodworker interested in making his own tools.