Salutations! In my continuing effort to present this material with an economy of long-winded or otherwise superfluous commentary, I'm electing to simply highlight a couple of 'don't miss' articles that happen to be in this week's release.
While Work is multidisciplinary in nature —indeed, a little something for everyone is often tucked away in each issue— I believe our woodworkers in particular will get a kick out of David Denning's treatise; "Some Facts About Mahogany." It isn't always the case that materials I'd file under 'Required Reading' are so enjoyable to take in. By all means relish this one.
For the machinists in the audience; allow me to direct your attention to the cover article, which goes over the art of making your own ball bearings. It's another shining example of how your Victorian antecedents had...confidence. Great big, chrome-plated confidence in their abilities.
–TIM
Disclaimer: Articles in Work: The Illustrated Weekly Journal for Mechanics describe materials and methods that would not be considered safe or advisable today. We are not responsible for the content of these magazines, and cannot take any responsibility for anyone attempting projects or procedures described therein.
The first issue of Work was published on March 23rd, 1889. The goal of this project is to release digital copies of the individual issues starting on the same date in 2012, effectively republishing the materials 123 years to the day from their original release.
The original printing was on thin, inexpensive paper. There are many cases of uneven inking and bleed-through from the page behind. Our copies of Work come from bound library volumes of these issues and are subject to unfavorable trimming, missing covers, etc. To minimize harm to these fragile volumes, we've undertaken the task of scanning the books ourselves. We do considerable post processing of the scans to make them clear but please bear with us if a margin is clipped too close, or a few words are unreadable. We would like to thank James Vasile and Karl Fogel for their help in supplying us with a book scanner and generally enabling this project to get off the ground.
You are welcome to download, print, and pretty much do what you want with the scan for your own personal purposes. Feel free to post a link or a copy on your blog or website. All we ask is a link back to the original project and this blog. We are not answering requests for commercial downloads or reprinting at this time.
Joel's Blog
Built-It Blog
Video Roundup
Classes & Events
Work Magazine