The back page of the October 2019 issue of Popular Woodworking has an interesting article about a book named With Hammer in Hand. The book was published in 1968 and is unfortunately out of print (sort of).
By "sort of" I mean it is available to view online at the University of Wisconsin - Madison Library Digital Collections as part of the Dominy Craftsmen Collection. You have to view it there and cannot download the whole book. That's a little annoying but is balanced by being able to click and enlarge any of the pictures. The pictures there are better than in the book.
The book is primarily about 3 generations of the East Hampton, New York Dominy family from the 1700's to the mid 1800's. The shop buildings and an amazingly well preserved tool collection are now part of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Winterthur, DE.
The book is a unique history of the Dominy family craftsmen and their struggles to remain craftsmen in a changing America. The difficulty in earning a living as a craftsman is nothing at all new and has been going on in this country from the beginning.
This is a big book, 424 pages, and covers a wealth of material. If you are interested in early American woodworking and craftsmen you'll find it a fascinating, if dense, read.
On the used market this book has asking prices from around $200 to over $500. I was able to borrow a copy through inter-library loan and after looking through it decided I wanted a copy for myself if I could find a more reasonable price. I got lucky on eBay this morning and and found a copy in better condition than my borrowed one for ~$70. That's a fair price for what this is.
You should also be aware this book was not written for the popular market. It is quite a scholarly tome and can be heavy reading with many footnotes and references.
By "sort of" I mean it is available to view online at the University of Wisconsin - Madison Library Digital Collections as part of the Dominy Craftsmen Collection. You have to view it there and cannot download the whole book. That's a little annoying but is balanced by being able to click and enlarge any of the pictures. The pictures there are better than in the book.
The book is primarily about 3 generations of the East Hampton, New York Dominy family from the 1700's to the mid 1800's. The shop buildings and an amazingly well preserved tool collection are now part of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Winterthur, DE.
The book is a unique history of the Dominy family craftsmen and their struggles to remain craftsmen in a changing America. The difficulty in earning a living as a craftsman is nothing at all new and has been going on in this country from the beginning.
This is a big book, 424 pages, and covers a wealth of material. If you are interested in early American woodworking and craftsmen you'll find it a fascinating, if dense, read.
On the used market this book has asking prices from around $200 to over $500. I was able to borrow a copy through inter-library loan and after looking through it decided I wanted a copy for myself if I could find a more reasonable price. I got lucky on eBay this morning and and found a copy in better condition than my borrowed one for ~$70. That's a fair price for what this is.
You should also be aware this book was not written for the popular market. It is quite a scholarly tome and can be heavy reading with many footnotes and references.
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