Useful book
Those of you who are not completely convinced by the latest trends in cutlery and believe that a liner lock pocket knife isn't something you would spend a lot of money on, should buy this book. The lock back locking mechanic is explained with useful diagrams and photos. The black & white pictures, while not the cleanest that I've seen in a how-to book, help making the main passages less obscure. The book is divided in three parts. In heach of these a different author shows his approach to making a knife shoving some of its stronger point as a knifemaker. For example the Ron Lake part put a strong emphasis on the handle fitting, polishing and finishing touches. The three masters co-authors with Ron Lake are Wayne Clay ( with a complete overview from the raw billet to the finished knife) and Frank Centofante (with an explanation of the same knife made by Clay, a clip point number 3, but with a different approach for machines and handle fitting) .
This book will not make a master out of you, nor will be of help in this direction thousand euros of machines and materials if you're not prepared to re-invent the wheel for yourself, finding what works best for you. This book will be very useful to help you skip some common mistakes made by the young guns in this field, the main of these being the sloppiness in fitting and shape of the blade. The hard work for making a pocket knife is enormous and the machines used by the author are there for helping to reach perfection and not for making hundred knives a month. Tips are dispensed here and there for the best set up and tricks to make things easier are also very helpful (clamps to hold the blade, etc...)
This is a quite old book and I've heard rumors that Krause is going to put it back on his catalog, but till that moment you have to buy a used copy of it.
Seem like the price of this book is hitting the roof a this moment so grab a bargain before it become so rare that you'll not find it anymore.
