I’m working on the design for a new model of dulcimer, and I am also looking at my tools, mostly hand tools, but also, a few basic and rather funky woodworking machines, and figuring out how to approach building the new model efficiently.
“Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking” is a book I often turn to for ideas and inspiration. Mr. Frid was an old-school woodworker. He taught his students how to accomplish most tasks with hand tools and/or the power tools available at the time so they can do whatever work was necessary with whatever tools were at hand.
The book was written long enough ago for him to recommend purchasing a table saw that can use a 10″ blade rather than an 8″ blade if possible. There’s no fluff about buying fancy, expensive gizmos, because with knowledge, skill, and ingenuity, one can do complex work with relatively simple tooling.
Bending wood and finishing are covered, again, using accessible materials and methods.
In a section on sharpening, he mentioned what he calls “a Belgian clay stone.” One day, while reading the book, I wondered what the hell a Belgian clay stone was, and after some time on the Internet, I learned he was referring to Belgian coticules, and this ignited my interest in learning about the various natural sharpening stones people around the world have used for ages, and in many places, still use daily.
The book covers everything one needs to know to turn rough wood into fine, finished objects in a small shop or a larger production facility.
A beginning woodworker or luthier might find there is a lot of information presented a bit too quickly to absorb, but there is just about everything you will need to know about woodworking tools and methods to get the job done between the covers.
There are various editions of the book, and I believe at this time all are out of print, but it is fairly easy to find them using a used book search aggregator.
