I got very curious about this book while reading Witold Rybczynski's One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw and I now am a big fan of Goodman's books. This is a very good overview to begin understanding the origins of today's hand tools. A very nicely researched history of woodworking tools studied from the European tradition. Mr. Goodman's text has a welcome twist of British wit which make for an entertaining read. Handsome production volume with 208 pages and 201 beautiful B/W illustrations. Survey of woodworking tools from ancient to modern times, in eight helpful sections: The Axe and the Adze; The Plane; The Saw; Boring Tools; The Carpenter's Bench; The Rule; Chisels and Gouges; Miscellaneous Woodworking Tools. Bibliography; Some British Museums with Displays of Woodworking Tools. I also highly recommend reading W.L. Goodman's other book: British planemakers from 1700 on the history of 18th and 19th Century hand-planes. Both published volumes complements each others in many ways. (For words and terms that were unknown or new to me, I used an old copy of the 1993 UPDATED and REVISED American Edition of the New Webster's dictionary and thesaurus of the English language at the very cheap price tag of ONLY 10 CENTS !)
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