Reviews
Book Reviews - "P"
The Pen Turner's Workbook: 2nd Edition– by Barry Gross
If you want to learn how to turn beautiful pens and pencils, there are several books available on the subject. When I wanted to learn about it, I purchased two books - this book and one I reviewed earlier. While either book easily stands on its own, it is good to have two references and these two books are different enough to complement each other.
I like the artistic layout of the book, but to tell the truth, some judicious editing could have easily cut the book down by a third of the pages. Of course, it’s hard to get people to pay good money for a skinny volume, so that wasn’t likely to happen.
The author presents making pens out of different materials and techniques as “projects.” While it is good and helpful information, once you get the general idea it’s pretty easy to translate it to the sundry variations on the theme. In the attempt to be complete with the projects, there is quite a bit of duplication, though some of the instructions do refer you back to earlier pages.
I was happy to see that there are some techniques and styles presented that are not covered in the other book I have on the subject. It makes me feel better about buying two books (like I need an excuse for that). In particular, the chapter on “Turning Advanced Pens” covers segmented pens, closed-end pens, a single-cross pen and a laser pen kit, all items that you will probably like to try eventually.
Pen finishing is covered rather lightly, as the author has one technique and that’s all he describes. Even that technique relies on something called “EEE cream” which is not described at all, so I have no clue what it actually does. There is a little bit on dyeing and staining, but it’s a small section. The “FAQs and Troubleshooting” chapter is helpful, but is mostly information repeated from earlier in the book and is also light in content.
It’s always disconcerting when you find obvious errors in a book, even if they are not critical. It makes you wonder if there are other errors that you don’t catch because you don’t know the subject that well. When the author states that he made a pen “for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, United States Senator Dennis Hastert,” you hope that it was just an editor screwing up. Still the book was otherwise error free, except for one dimension called out as 1/18” – somehow I don’t think that is correct, or at least my ruler doesn’t have that gradation on it.
To sum it up, it’s a good book for the beginning pen turner. If I had to choose between this and the other book I reviewed on this subject, I would be slightly more inclined to recommend the other book, Then again, I would be even more inclined to recommend that you get both.
Published by Fox Chapel Publishing - Coyright 2003, Revised 2006
125 pages
Reviewed on April 10, 2011
The Perfect Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Sharpening for Woodworkers – by Ron Hock
Ron Hock should know his sharpening, particularly plane blades. While he started out as a knifemaker, he soon found himself making plane blades for the students of James Krenov (of The College of the Redwoods in California). He continues to sell plane blades, as well as a few other related items.
This book is up-to-date on the latest methods and machines for sharpening. I particularly like the presentation on metals, abrasives and machines. It has a lot of good color photographs and includes instructions on sharpening most of the tools you will use in woodworking. I found, though, that the level of detail in the instructions was not as deep as that in Leonard Lee’s book, which I recently reviewed. Also, Lee’s book covers just a few more tools in his book. If you are interested in sharpening knives, Hock’s book is better; no surprise considering his background.
One of the things I appreciate about the Hock book is the acknowledgement that his book is not the be all and end all on sharpening. He includes a reference section in the back of the book for other resources in which he even mentions Lee’s book. He also includes a list of suppliers. This kind of information can quickly become dated, but it’s good information right now.
I think that the Hock book and the Lee book complement each other well. Hock’s book is much better looking (Lee’s is entirely in black-and-white) and has good photographs, while Lee’s book is slightly more comprehensive in sharpening instruction. If I were to pick just one I think I might lean toward Hock’s book.
Once again, though, there are other books out there that may suit you better, and there is a whole world of info on sharpening on the Internet. Heck, sometimes you have to wonder if you even need any books at all.
Published by Popular Woodworking Books - Coyright 2009
Reviewed on November 13, 2010