Customer Reviews

The Wheelwright's Shop

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

George Sturt's original work provided an unparalleled glimpse into the work, lives, and social environment of craftsmen at the end of the transition from the English craft to the modern industrial economy. The edition offered here is an abridged version of the original; retaining most of the how-to elements, but excluding the insights into the lives and characters of the craftsmen working in the Wheelwright's Shop. If all that interests you are how wagon wheels where constructed, the abridged version will suffice. If you want to understand the revolutionary transition from the craft tradition to the era of unskilled industrial mass production, then continue searching for Sturt's complete text.

If you wanted to sit down with a wheelwright from a couple hundred years ago and keep your mouth shut and listen to every bit of wisdom he had to impart ... that's what this book is about. Read (listen) to non-rocket science about what makes a wheel work and how to either make or not make dumb mistakes.
Valuable information about general wood working that applies not only to wheels.
Or if you're a history buff, how wooden wheels once fit into everyday life.

I quite enjoyed this, until, after reading it, I went online and searched for more information ... and found the complete book, scanned in ... and realized that I had been sold an abridged version, that left out half of the content!

I don't mind spending $40 for a book...but I really dislike getting an overly slim volume, and NOWHERE being told ahead of time that it's had material missing. Shame on Amazon and shame on Obscure Press.

I found this book to be a wonderful and informative treatise, both as a student and as an amateur woodworker. Sturt's narrative is a measured blend of documentary and moral argument, which is of equal or greater importance now, as when it was first published in 1923. In it, he offers a first-hand account of the historic, geographic, and human context concerning the artisan-producer within the tradition of medieval wood and iron work. I found three main themes within Sturt's work that were particularly pleasing to myself, and which I found relevant to my search for meaning. Firstly, he emphasizes the relationships that arose from the close interactions of a local market, of a close-knit group of workers, and of an artist and his/her medium. Secondly, he rightfully condemns the waste and destruction associated with the Industrial Revolution, while omitting a lament over the changes in the means of production. And lastly, he offers an example of the effectiveness, connectivity, and ingenuity that arises from the intimate interrelationships between workers and their tasks through their tools, between producers and consumers through their products, and between people and their community through a sense of place and a sense of purpose.

A very detailed accounting of one of the last Wheelwrights. To appreciate the book, one must be familiar with woodworking at some level. Mr. Sturt paints a picture of someone with professional skills in the repair and making of wagons, carts, and wheelbarrows. The book may be of interest to those unfamiliar with woodworking but appreciate the long apprenticeship required to become a fullfledged wheelwright. Tis sad that a talent so needed for thousands of years, including Egypt and Rome, disappears. When the wagon factories and the automobile came about this made the wheelwright obsolete.....

This is about my favorite book in the world. The author paints a wistfull and heart-felt picture of a world, which is, sadly, almost gone. He was the last of a family of English farm-cart and wagon builders, who's craft was the high-end of traditional technical woodworking. This book is beautifully written-both on the sentence level, and in it's loving descriptions of human skill and practical knowledge. I have been a fulltime professional woodworker and student of traditional woodworking for more than thirty years, and this book, more than any other, has helped me understand the connection between what I do, and who I am.

This book Tells A lot about life in A small town in England in the late 19th century along with mecanical information about wagons and farm tools...

The Wheelwright's Shop
This book can be read from different perspectives. The description of village life in England; a perspective of the work ethics and practices of turn of the century craftsmen, and the description of blacksmithing and the construction of a simple wagon. Taken together or separately, I think this is a fine book.

I found this book very fascinating. It explains how wagon and buggy wheels were made before modern tools were available. It talks about what the wheelwright looked for when buying wood and some of the techniques used to construct the wheels.

I enjoyed this book as it gives a look at a 19th century wheel and cart building business. The author writes clearly and I was kept fascinated at how wheels and carts were made fully by hand. The craftsmanship needed was impressive. A good read.