Interesting Woodworking Books.

This is a great little book! Although it takes you through the making of a wooden hand plane with some interesting techniques, it's main attraction lies in the way it's written and the reminiscences of days gone by.

 
Here is a shot of some of his smoothers made from Cocobolo, Black Mango (a swamp wood) and lignum Vitae.
The picture below shows boat builders using cabinet scrapers to finish off the outside, taking shavings that floated down lighter than a feather.
The book was written in 1992 when Cecil E Pierce was 86, an inspiration to us all. He also wrote a book on dovetails which is on order from Amazon as we speak.

This is another book packed with remarkable photography by Darius Kinsey taken between 1890 and 1925. It is well narrated and a wonderful insight into the world before chain saws and JCB's.

All these giant trees were cut down with hand saws and hauled out of the woods by horses and cattle, incredible! They were certainly efficient as the great woods have all gone.

Both these books are available on Amazon and well worth reading.