New Books 2009-10

Hi,

Its that time of year again when I feel the need to buy / receive some new reading materials.

Last year my son gave me a copy of Dr. Olga Popovic's book on reciprocal timber frames and this relatively minor event led to her being invited to be a guest speaker at the UK Carpenters Fellowship annual conference - FRAME 2009. I also note with interest Don P's pictures posted over the weekend about a mini built reciprocal frame which can withstand both his dead load and intermittant applied loading (Christmas Cookies).

So what is this year's "must have" addition to the bookshelf ?

Regards

Ken Hume

One on my list is Oak: The Frame of Civilization.
It was featured in a recent issue of Timber Framing.

I just received in the mail, English Historic Carpentry, by Cecil Hewett. I can hardly put it down.

Tim

Hi Tim,

This title would be one of my 3 essential reading books for every timber framer to buy.

A number of years back a group of us met Cecil at Cressing Temple. He brought all of his original Historic Carpentry illustrations with him in a folder and when he opened the folder inside the very draughty wheat bearn the illustrations promtly blew away. We all had to make a mad dash to recover the airbourne paper.

Cecil's text style can make for difficult reading at times but the content is extremely useful as a reference work which over time really should be updated especially as and when dendro dates are established for many of his buildings.

Regards

Ken Hume

Does Cecil Hewett have any other books?
his drawings are inspiring

Hi Mark,

The other books in the series are "English Cathedral and Monastic Carpentry first published in 1981 and then "Church Carpentry" in 1982.

He also published many "papers" as well as books too numerous to list here.

If you are on a limited budget my recommendation is to buy "English Historic Carpentry" first published in 1980 since this book contains a fairly complete compendium of traditional and classic joint illustrations.

Regards

Ken Hume

I have one that you all might be interested in. It is not strictly timber joinery but has a wealth of info. Price is steep but in my opinion worth it.

Detail: Timber Construction Manual

Detail has a great stuff with diagrams and how you build it.

That looks like a great resource book, mo. I have been interested in this book called " Oak-Framed Buildings " by Rupert Newman. Anyone else know of it? tb

Rupert's book is well worth the price. For us North Americans, it's a good glimpse into a different way of doing things. It has a good chapter on scribing frames.

Hi Gabel,

I have taken this book off the shelf in the Weald and Downland bookstore 3 times and 3 times I have put it back without making a purchase.

Regards

Ken Hume

Ken, why have you been tempted 3 times and still chosen not to keep it?

Tim

I think Will T provided a link to this one time. I'll happily add this one to the shelves.

Army Field Manual: Rigging, etc.

Cant beat $14.00

This is public information so if you don't want to buy the book you can download the pdf here:

http://www.petrospec-technologies.com/Herkommer/knots/FM5-125.pdf

For those into medieval timber frames a book with the descriptive title "Regional Variation in Timber-Framed Building in England and Wales Down to 1550" is well worth buying. It has some great illustrations similar to those in "Discovering Timber Framed Buildings". The first edition came out in 1998 so it's not new. However I've never seen it mentioned in must-have timber frame book lists, so I thought I'd mention it.

Miles

Hi Meddins,

Can you please provide the full description and details for this book including author, publisher, ISBN number, price, etc.

Regards

Ken Hume

Regional variation in timber-framed building in England and Wales down to 1550
The proceedings of the 1994 Cressing Conference
By Cressing Conference (1994 Cressing Temple)
Published in 2002 Second edition, 1998 first edition
Essex County Council (Chelmsford)

# Paperback: 147 pages
# Publisher: Essex County Council Planning Dept. (April 1998)
# Language English
# ISBN-10: 1852811722
# ISBN-13: 978-1852811723
# Product Dimensions: 29.4 x 21 x 1.2 cm

Hi Ken;

You must be familiar with The Village Carpenter by Walter Rose. This is essential reading.

In looking around on the web for the above mentioned book, I came across this list of classic books:

http://www.heavytimberwork.com/links.html

Jim

That looks like a list I need to keep track of. I got The Village Carpenter for Christmas. A very good read.

Hi Jim and Dave,

I reviewed the heavytimberwork list and already own 14 out of 18 of the European content books, 7 out of 10 of the North American and 3 out of 6 of the other.

I am impressed by the capability and achievements of the heavytimberwork.com carpenters in Canada however this does not appear to extend to spelling where Hermann Phleps is entered in the book reference list as Phelps (common mistake).

Regards

Ken Hume

Speaking of book lists, the Guild has two bibliographies of books of interest. I could not get to the TTRAG Selected Bibliography of Historical Books from the home page, but here is the link:

http://www.tfguild.org/ttrag/bibliodate.html

The other one is here:

http://www.tfguild.org/tfgbiblio.html

Jim