Ralph replied to Mike's book request thusly:

>
>> Dunbar's "Restoring, Tuning and Using Classic Woodworking Tools" has
>> been posted as a good reference.
>
> Yup, this is a great one. Probably my second favorite, right after
> Bernie Jones' stuff.
>
>> "Plane Baiscs" By Allen Caught my eye, and I found a copy for $11.
>
> Another goodie. I like this one a lot-- the information is good, and
> it is very easy to read.
>
> My personal favorite books for hand tool woodworking are the Bernard
> Jones reprints from Astragal Press: "The Complete Woodworker" and "The
> Practical Woodworker". These cover a lot of different things (wanna
> make an airplane propeller?) in enough detail to be useful. Best of
> all, these are *cheap*... ;-)

    Great minds think alike, these are on top of my list as well. What
    follows right on their heels is Paul N. Hasluck's "The Handyman's
    Book" ISBN 1-85891-254-7. Packed with good oldtools information and
    usually found cheap.

    "Bench Work in Wood" by W. F. M. Goss is another good book for use
    of handtools. It includes a set of excercises to build skills. This
    was reprinted by the MWTCA a coupla years back and may be available
    used at tool events.

[snip]
>
> One author I'd say to stay away from, however, is Alex Bealer. We've
> been around the block several times on this guy, so check the
> archives.

    It just continues to be funny to hear your review of his body of
    work.

Regards, Steve