Books, Manuals, Publications

Got any great sources for leather? Tools? Machinery? Looking for sources?
Message
Author
User avatar
dw
Seanchaidh
Posts: 5830
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 1997 10:00 am
Full Name: DWFII
Location: Redmond, OR
Has Liked: 204 times
Been Liked: 122 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#301 Post by dw »

All,

I am of two minds about all this...I welcome the knowledge, especially since it opens the door for many more people to get their hands dirty, as who should say. No excuses...Image

I must also say that had this discussion come up five years ago, I might have thought twice about the conversions I did. I could have saved myself literally hundreds of hours of frustration and lost sleep and perhaps a bit of hair colour. I know Google (?) has some of Golding's volumes scanned to pdf and although I don't consider them to be as precise or as accessible as what is posted on the HCC homepage, they are usable.

Perhaps scanned to pdf is all that was ever needed--then or in the future.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

(Message edited by dw on May 09, 2010)
lancepryor
7
7
Posts: 662
Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2004 6:42 am
Full Name: lance pryor
Been Liked: 3 times

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#302 Post by lancepryor »

DW:

FWIW, I respect, appreciate, and admire the effort and the philosophy behind your efforts. The work you did will benefit many people.

Alas, not all of us are willing or able to dedicate such effort to the reproduction of similar texts. In such a case, IMO, something is better than nothing.

However, don't make yourself think your work was not valuable or appreciated.

Lance
User avatar
romango
8
8
Posts: 854
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:40 pm
Full Name: Rick Roman
Location: Eugene, Oregon, USA
Been Liked: 8 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#303 Post by romango »

I second Lance's post. The carefully prepared digital copy is much more valuable.

It's just that the thought of never getting to see some of these books, because of the difficulty of getting the pristine copy, makes me want to look for a quick interim fix.

Who knows, perhaps the availability of the quick copy will spur more interest in the art of proper preservation.
marc
5
5
Posts: 272
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:00 am
Full Name: Marc Carlson
Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA
Been Liked: 2 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#304 Post by marc »

There is an old phrase "Don't make the best the enemy of the good." At work, we have a huge backlog of uncataloged materials that are doing no one any good, since no one knows we even have them. The level of cataloging procedures that have developed to properly catalog rare books and manuscripts is far more detailed and intricate than anything most people have ever seen. One of the decisions I've made was to have them cataloged in a barely adequate fashion, and as we can over time we can go back and upgrade the records that we find are the most used and most relevant. And as odd as it sounds, cataloging is very similar to boot and shoemaking [Conceptually very simple - you can grasp the idea of how to do it in a day; to actually learn to do it correctly and well takes years of regular practice].

What this means for the topic at hand is that if "good enough" will get you a little closer to the goal while perfection (which is what you really want) is going to take a long time, you can do both. We can do the absolutely perfect digitization and OCR transcription work that we want and need to bring this information into the future. That means that any version available for the future is better than none (and yes Rick, that means that even the example that I sent DW was taken originally from a microfilm, I believe) is better than nothing at all.

What we need then, is a set of suggested standards so that everyone is doing the same thing, and so we do not have to cover the same ground more than once. Image capture is straight-forward, but there are some pitfalls that if we can avoid them the first time, they never have to be done again, particularly when we are using original materials.

I will submit a suggestion for this later today (since I'm already doing this for the university, I think I can come up with something that will work for anyone who actually wants to contribute. Since we are talking about mostly black and white print, this isn't rocket surgery as my cataloger is prone to say).

Marc
(DW - We may want to have another topic for this, say Sources: Digitization)
User avatar
romango
8
8
Posts: 854
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:40 pm
Full Name: Rick Roman
Location: Eugene, Oregon, USA
Been Liked: 8 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#305 Post by romango »

Marc,

Love the 'Rocket Surgery' mixed metaphor. Glad you're not a 'stick in the ointment' about this Image

I'd love to see a standards guideline.

I don't know what software is best for making PDFs or that anyone would be willing to purchase it, if not free.

I wrote a very small Java program using open source API called iText. Using this program I just put book images in a directory and it makes the PDF from the sequential file names. I'm willing to spiff this up and provide it to anyone wanting to make PDFs, if that is the route to go.

- Rick
marc
5
5
Posts: 272
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:00 am
Full Name: Marc Carlson
Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA
Been Liked: 2 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#306 Post by marc »

Rick - I'm a believer in digitization -- I just have a responsibility to you guys, to the old dead guys, and to the materials, to a) not put potentially irreplaceable materials at risk for damage and loss, and b) not put the HCC at risk for legal problems (and as far as I'm concerned, in that order).

Image capture (even with the best intentions) puts materials at risk (how many of you have ever put a book or manuscript on a scanner and left a little dust on the platen, or cracked the spine, or had major paper flakes fall off? Or photographed it, and had the same thing happen? That's all damage taking place. Not to mention the fact that the light itself is damaging to the paper. This is not helped by the fact that many of these items were printed on truly crappy paper that is so acidic it may not survive the digitization process intact. So it's in our best interest to only have to do this once.

Another reality is that I just don't have the people to do to it here at this time. But lets deal with these issues one at a time.

Marc
User avatar
dw
Seanchaidh
Posts: 5830
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 1997 10:00 am
Full Name: DWFII
Location: Redmond, OR
Has Liked: 204 times
Been Liked: 122 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#307 Post by dw »

All,

I worked a long time on this response so I am somewhat reluctant to abandon it...even though you all make some good points and it is clear that I am in the minority here.

I will add a editorial preface to my remarks below by saying that I wish I could believe that "the good is not always the enemy of the best." (As with the standards of quality for shoes...cited below.) But I do feel that way. And I fear that when scan-to-pdf becomes the preferred mode that there will be no more digitalizations in the sense that I understand them.

Lance,

Well, thank you.

No worries. I volunteered for the task(s). But I have to say that I did it the way I did it because on some deep, dark, socially unacceptable level, I am a purist and I do have a very real dedication to values and standards and concepts of behaviour that are no longer all that commonplace...and less so with each passing year. I console myself with the notion that as we get older we often find ourselves in an increasingly diminished company--those that hold to values such as respecting another man's work or finding comfort in literacy, etc....values that in another age might have been called "civilized" but are today simply regarded as old fashioned. Whether there's an actual slide toward barbarism...especially in the face of, or perhaps because of, ever more complex technology...is another question. But I note that even the values that inform our little "band of brothers" here are not so much lost to history as lost to society.

As an example...I post, infrequently, to a forum that sees itself as an international arbiter of style and fashion sense. That there is a presumption amongst the membership of some privileged perspective is one thing (and perhaps a little specious on the face of it) but certainly one can get a sense of the way common consensus is moving.

Among these folks the standard of top-shelf quality for shoes is almost universally gemmed construction, and increasingly, fiberboard and/or foam insoles, celastic toe and heel stiffeners, and even in some instances corrected grain upper leathers. That there is a place for such techniques in modern commerce is undeniable but for them to become the epitome of superlative quality...to the extent where hand welted construction is no longer widely known much less a consideration, and leather insoles regarded as a superficial benefit affecting only the retail price...is not only a travesty, it is problematic for the future of the Trade. Yet there it is. I deplore it, but perhaps it is a blindness on my part..."something is better than nothing" applies here too.

In the end, it is not hard to see that the future is in scan-to-pdf, regardless of the perhaps subjective and therefore indeterminate, ethics or benefits that accrue to handling this material with something more than casual consideration. Whether my efforts stand up to the test of time or not remains to be seen...if so, it will be more because of the innate value of the author's efforts than my own...but as I said, I entered into this voluntarily. And even if current perceptions seem to make further undertakings in this mode unpalatable I still feel that the project that I'm working on is worthwhile. For what it's worth or will be worth...or even as an example of excess...I intend to finish it.

But all that said, I will welcome the flood of scanned books that must surely be forthcoming and will dutifully make them available on the homepage. A whole lot of somethings is certainly better than a paltry offering irrespective of intent or technique.


Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

(Message edited by dw on May 09, 2010)

(Message edited by dw on May 09, 2010)
cwsaddler
1
1
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:00 am
Full Name: Jim Kladder

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#308 Post by cwsaddler »

DW
I must say, probably because I am of an age, that I appreciate the trueness of your statement
"I am a purist and I do have a very real dedication to
values and standards and concepts of behaviour that are not longer all
that commonplace and less so with each passing year. I console myself with
the notion that as we get older we often find ourselves in an increasingly
diminished company--those that hold to values such as respecting another
man's work or finding comfort in literacy, etc....values that in another
age might have been called "civilized" but are today simply regarded as
old fashioned" and to show my age further "I get where you are comming from.".

JimK
User avatar
dw
Seanchaidh
Posts: 5830
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 1997 10:00 am
Full Name: DWFII
Location: Redmond, OR
Has Liked: 204 times
Been Liked: 122 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#309 Post by dw »

Jim,

Thanks. Rare company.

Image


Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member
marc
5
5
Posts: 272
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:00 am
Full Name: Marc Carlson
Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA
Been Liked: 2 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#310 Post by marc »

Digitization is done in three stages: Image Capture, Clean up/OCR work, and metadata. Image Capture is fairly straight forward and is performed either with a scanner or a digital camera.

MINIMUM SCANNING GUIDELINES

“Master files” are intended to be archival-quality digital images. These files used to generate derivatives (“access” and “thumbnail”) files for present-day web delivery. They are archived and will be used to generate other derivative versions for future uses.

Text based originals (Books, pamphlets, archival materials, etc.)

Master File FormatTIFF Bit Depth1 bit bitonal 8 bit grayscale 24 bit color Spatial Resolution300-600 ppi (400 ppi and up for OCR purposes) Spatial Dimensions100% of original

Grayscale scanning is most often done for these materials, unless the original document had important color information such as a seal, or if information best captured with a color scan, such as paper deterioration, is deemed important for a specific project.

Text based copies (Scans from old photocopies or prints from microfilm). This is less of a concern since virtually all of these will be unable to generate a “good” copy.

Master File FormatTIFF Bit Depth1 bit bitonal 8 bit grayscale 24 bit color Spatial Resolution300-600 ppi (400 ppi and up for OCR purposes) Spatial Dimensions100% of original

Photographic originals
MasterAccessThumbnail File FormatTIFFJPEGJPEG Bit Depth8 bit grayscale / 24 bit color8 bit grayscale / 24 bit color8 bit grayscale / 24 bit color Spatial Resolution300-800 ppi or 3000 to 5000 pixels across the long dimension (600 ppi preferred)72 ppi72 ppi Spatial Dimensions100% of original600 pixels across the long dimension150-200 pixels across the long dimension

Minimum settings should be geared towards 3000 pixels on a side (i.e. an 8x10 image scanned at 300 ppi, 4x5 at 600. [note: A 35mm contact print at (1 3/8” would be about 2230 ppi, but in fact many inexpensive scanners can’t go higher than 1200 ppi (they just pretend to using interpolation software). Look for the scanner’s true optical resolution]

In general, color photographs should be scanned as 24-bit RGB color and black & white photographs in 8-bit grayscale. There are many cases, however, when black & white photographs would benefit from color scanning, for example, when they are sepia-toned or badly faded.

Scan the negatives before prints.

Verso of Photographic originals
When the back (verso) of reflective images (e.g., photographs) contain annotations, drawings, or other significant markings, the backs should be digitized as well. Format should be grayscale with resolution set at 200 dpi unless two or more colors are present.

Naming Conventions:
Use the collection number for all images with the following annotations.
…r = Recto (or front)
…v = Verso (or back)
…u = Uncompressed/unaltered digital master
…r = Screen size reference/Access files
…f = Full screen files

Steps:
  1. Capture the original image. Use a flat bed scanner, or an overhead camera/scanner. Please note that an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper at 300 dpi is 8.4 megapixels. An 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper at 400 dpi is 15 megapixels. Also, a clean sheet of glass should be placed in such a way as to minimize distortion from pages bulging away from the gutter of a book. Reflections on this glass can be countered by 2 bright lights placed at 45 degrees and turning off all the other lights in the room.
  2. Save as a tiff (jpgs have inherent flaws for long term storage, RAW file types are proprietary and incompatible with other RAW formats). It would be better if the images were named something like Author_Titlep#u.tiff. That is Author, Title, p for page, Number, u for unaltered digital master. If your scanner or camera saves as a jpg, convert to TIFF, ASAP. These masters should be saved temporarily on a cd and sent either to our webmaster, or the librarian (I really don’t care which). From there they should be saved more permanently on a terabyte external drive which will need to be purchased by the HCC from cash donations.
  3. Convert the tiffs to a temporary pdf. These should be fairly low density, and should not exceed 10 mb per file. If the text has to be broken up into smaller pdfs, that’s fine, since these are only temporary.
  4. Converting to a permanent format should be copies taken from the unaltered master TIFFS. Use the OCR software you have available. Illustrations and photographs can be cleaned up with any Draw and photo software you are comfortable with. The outcome may be dependent on the pdf resolution.
  5. The Standard for pdf creation is Adobe, and other packages should be avoided unless it can be positively determined that they don’t take proprietary coding shortcuts (I’ve lost too many files to other pdf programs that are unreadable by any other system than their own).

Metadata is that encoded data that tells us what the files are, and who did it. This should be put in place when the pdf is created in Adobe.
the_joat
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:00 pm
Full Name: Matthew Takeda
Location: Fairfield, CA, USA

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#311 Post by the_joat »

Frank: thank you for the welcome. I have been lurking here for years, but never had anything to add to the discussion before.

Just a few random thoughts:

What DW has done is wonderful. I truly appreciate all the time, dedication, and love he has put into it. There is no doubt that he has produced incredible copies of the books that combine high quality with small file size.

Scan to PDF is always going to produce larger files. How much of an issue that is in a world where storage media get bigger every year, I don't know. Here are two examples, both of the same book, 'The manufacture of boots and shoes: being a modern treatise of all the processes of making and manufacturing footwear' By Frank Yeates Golding, 1902:

Google Books version, the PDF is 13 MB and the text is not searchable:
<http://books.google.com/books/download/the_manufacture_of_boots_and_shoes.pdf?id =dzbdaaaaiaaj&output=pdf&sig=acfu3u1mnlvxqxsb8xcwqtihm3ytei-83w>

or <http://snipurl.com/golding-g>

The Internet Archive version, the PDF is 36 MB and the text is searchable:
<http://www.archive.org/download/manufactureofboo00goldrich/manufactureofboo00gol drich.pdf>

or <http://snipurl.com/golding-b>

Image capture on a cradle is much kinder to the books (and especially their spines) than flat scanning.

With proper camera setup, the images produced can be of uniform high quality even if less intense lighting is used, which is kinder to the paper.

Adobe Acrobat Pro has a built in OCR capability and can be set to automatically downsize text-containing images to 600 dpi. Of course, the quality of the OCR output is highly dependent on the quality of the image and the diligence of the operator. When it does this, Acrobat retains the image and puts the text data in the background, so you see the original image of the text, but it is fully searchable, as in the second example above. Non-text images can always be inserted into the PDF at a higher resolution, if needed.

My own library, unfortunately, does not contain any suitable books that are out of copyright, or I would volunteer to scan and convert one for your review.
big_larry
4
4
Posts: 159
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 9:00 am
Full Name: Larry A. Peterson
Location: Ephraim, Utah, USA

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#312 Post by big_larry »

Congratulations!!!

Wonderful accomplishment! I want to add my thanx for great work.

Larry Peterson
djulan
2
2
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 9:39 am
Full Name: David Ulan

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#313 Post by djulan »

I ran across this very interesting book (available in PDF as well as other formats).
Apologies if it has already been posted. Enjoy

http://www.archive.org/details/designingcutting00hatf

David
User avatar
romango
8
8
Posts: 854
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:40 pm
Full Name: Rick Roman
Location: Eugene, Oregon, USA
Been Liked: 8 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#314 Post by romango »

David,

That's a pretty interesting looking book from just skimming it. I'm gonna have to make me some of those button shoes!
User avatar
dearbone
8
8
Posts: 1032
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:23 pm
Full Name: Nasser Vies
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Been Liked: 3 times

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#315 Post by dearbone »

Rick,

Go for it,Everyone has to make the button boot at least once in their life time,I made many ones quick but not yet one for show and delight in fine leather if we ever gonna find fine leather anymore.

If you have questions,just post them here.

Nasser
User avatar
dearbone
8
8
Posts: 1032
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:23 pm
Full Name: Nasser Vies
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Been Liked: 3 times

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#316 Post by dearbone »

This machine is a new acquisition,It arrived 3 days ago and i have been cleaning and tuning it and getting used to it,it works real well for a used machine,its built like a tank,but i don't like the new paint job,Don't mind some fading and chips on original paint job,i opened it and check all it's mechanism when it arrived and as the owner mentioned,it is like new and i took his words for it but with little caution,but in the end i am very please with it,but the reason i am posting this is that i have been looking for a manual for it and so far no luck,I don't really need it,but it will good to have one for proper naming of the parts and so forth, Please let me know you come cross a manual for pfaff model 9591.
TIA.
11566.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
paul
8
8
Posts: 1038
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:00 am
Full Name: Paul Krause
Location: Prescott, Arizona, USA
Been Liked: 14 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#317 Post by paul »

Wow Nasser.
Congratulations on such a nice clean post machine.

I checked the list of manuals posted on Proleptic.net (publishers of Shop Talk magazine), but did not see one there.

Best Wishes,
Paul
User avatar
dearbone
8
8
Posts: 1032
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:23 pm
Full Name: Nasser Vies
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Been Liked: 3 times

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#318 Post by dearbone »

Paul,

Thank you,Please don't waste much time on this,I looked long for this manual,It is like "finding a needle in a haystack",I gave the machine a nice cleaning/bath with kerosene to get rid of old particles and anything stuck to the metal and than some oiling and i have to say i was lucky because i bought it based on some pictures and the words of seller which i heard to be an honorable man,They put a new motor and i asked them for a small presser wheel.

Regards
Nasser
lancepryor
7
7
Posts: 662
Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2004 6:42 am
Full Name: lance pryor
Been Liked: 3 times

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#319 Post by lancepryor »

Nasser:

I have PDF's of the manual and the parts list for the 471/491 series; I would guess there are many similarities, so although not totally applicable they might be useful. Let me know if you would like me to email them to you. I have used them to take apart and reassemble my 491.

Lance
User avatar
dearbone
8
8
Posts: 1032
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:23 pm
Full Name: Nasser Vies
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Been Liked: 3 times

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#320 Post by dearbone »

Lance,

Thanks,Yeah, If yours is a Pfaff post,that might help to see how similar they are,but i assume the difference might just be cosmetic,Although that depends on age difference between the two,Here is my email,
nasser.vies@gmail.com

Thanks again
Nasser
marc
5
5
Posts: 272
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:00 am
Full Name: Marc Carlson
Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA
Been Liked: 2 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#321 Post by marc »

Just to let folks know, I have just posted the announcement about the guild library to the special collections blog at http://orgs.utulsa.edu/spcol/

The department cataloger took the first handful of the books off to be cataloged this morning.

Marc
gshoes
5
5
Posts: 205
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:41 am
Full Name: Geraldine Rabey
Location: Elgin, IL, United States

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#322 Post by gshoes »

DW,

I just wanted to say that I am so completely thrilled with my purchase of your Book, "Western Bootmaking: An American Tradition".

Your book is presented in such a wonderful format that even a newbie like me can put together a pair of boots from start to finish. You did not leave anything out!

I could not be more pleased.

This Crispin Website has been a gold mine of information. I am very glad that I have your book and that I found all of the shoe and bootmakers here.

Geri
User avatar
dw
Seanchaidh
Posts: 5830
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 1997 10:00 am
Full Name: DWFII
Location: Redmond, OR
Has Liked: 204 times
Been Liked: 122 times
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#323 Post by dw »

Geri,

Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate it. i wrote the book for people just getting into the Trade.

Remember...if you have any questions about it you can call me.


Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member
last_maker

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#324 Post by last_maker »

This is a plug to promote Frank Jones pattern making book. I just got it in the mail today. I absolutly love it! It is an amazing accomplishment, well done and easy to follow. thanks Frank for putting it together. It is worth it's cost!

You obviously knew what you were doing!

-marlietta Schock
lastmakingschool.com
frank_jones
3
3
Posts: 109
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2004 9:00 am
Full Name: Frank Jones
Location: Lancashire, England
Contact:

Re: Books, Manuals, Publications

#325 Post by frank_jones »

Marlietta Schock

Many thanks for your kind words.

As you probably know, the book is a complete re-write of the “Pattern Cutter’s Handbook” the first edition of which was published in 1991. The hard bit of writing technical books on shoemaking is getting the balance right. In many ways the technical stuff is not the most difficult. Shoemaking has been around for a long time and most of the techniques have been spelt out before - somewhere.

The really hard work is making it “available” to the people who need it. In particular, making it as easy as possible to follow, without talking down to the reader. That is why there are 470 illustrations in the new book. Since 1991, readers of the original book from around the world have made suggestions and asked for guidance on specific things. The feedback led to much of the extra material in the new book.

A new up-date file has been opened and any suggestions (or corrections!) would be very welcome - for next time.

Frank Jones
frank.jones@noblefootwear.com
Post Reply