Stephen Shepherd

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Andy Lincoln,in Deaborn MI.

Sad to hear of Stephen's passing. I knew he had been in ill health since the stroke. His wisdom and words have been missed.

Stephen

Ellis Walentine

Stephen, as our longstanding members recall, was a mainstay of WoodCentral, a tireless advocate for the old ways of doing things and an inspiration to us all. His books and blogs and websites and products continue to be a legacy to his genuine reverence for hand tool craftsmanship, historically correct adhesives and finishes and all the tricks and recipes of the pre-Civil War era. He was a moderator of our hand tool board and host of our hand tool chat, as well as a friend and confidant. I was his editor and collaborator on magazine articles for major magazines, and advisor to him on several of his book projects.

News of Stephen's stroke was a blow to all of us who had come to respect his mastery of 17th and 18th century technology and materials. I'm very sorry to hear that he's gone, but he ran a good race and his last few years were not easy for him.

Go well, old friend, and thanks so much for your gifts to woodworking, to WoodCentral, and to me.

Ellis Walentine, Host

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Thomas Skaggs, Foothills of Mount Level

Rest in peace Stephen. You may be gone but your spirit and knowledge lives on with us. T.

Re: Stephen Shepherd I shall miss him

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

I corresponded with Stephen and learned much of some of the old adhesives (hot glue in particular) and finishes. He was a fountain of knowledge and willing to share with all.

I think I purchased some glue from him at one time.

He shall be missed by many!

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Mark Nowicki

Very sorry to hear that.

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Don Stephan

thanks everyone for introducing me to him, and I am also sorry for his passing. But I have ordered his woodworking book and looking forward to learning more traditional woodworking best practices.

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Rum

IMHO his book on finishing "Shellac, Linseed Oil, & Paint" was perhaps more useful and interesting from a historical and somewhat practical perspective. It depends a bit on your interests though as both are excellent books.

Also his spinning wheel restoration book (which is a particular interest of mine - and for which I picked up a decent number of excellent hints from his blog) was reasonably well put together.

Unfortunately I never got to meet him, but certainly appreciated his endeavours and was an avid reader of his blog. He will most surely be widely missed.

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Adam of Oakland

i always enjoyed Stephen's blog, http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/. a very kind internet presence and full of wisdom. Stephen i think was how i found the WoodCentral community, too.

I remember a few Tuesday night handtool chat sessions. a very well rounded person. godspeed stephen

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Stuart Hough

Though I never had the honor of meeting Stephen face-to-face, I always felt as if I had a friend in him. Reading his blog and books, and chatting on both Monday and Tuesday nights, he taught me a lot about the how-to of hand tool woodworking. I shall miss his wit and wisdom. Godspeed, Sir Stephen!

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Mark Hennebury

Sorry to hear of his passing. He seemed to have earned his stripes in woodworking and been happy to share his knowledge.

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Don Stephan

Also wanted to buy this book but none of the dealers on Amazon are showing it.

Re: Stephen Shepherd

Rum

You can, I believe, still buy it through his store that he had a relative running for him. A lot of the stuff (spinning wheel parts, etc..) are unfortunately unavailable forever at this point but I think the books are print on demand:

http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?page_id=1964#!/Full-Chisel-Press/c/1576107/offset=0&sort=addedTimeDesc

The hide glue book is decent, but there was imho a limited amount of information you can write about hide glue (if i was doing more esoteric restorations it would have undoubtedly been more useful).

The Compleat Early Nineteenth Century Woodworker is a useful and interesting book. I have a rather extensive library so it duplicated a lot of other information I had already but its still and excellent book nevertheless.

The book on Shellac, Linseed Oil, & Paint is without a doubt his magnum opus, if I had to pick one of the three this would be it. I definitely learned quite a few things in there that I haven't found anywhere else.

If you're interested in such things his Spinning Wheel Repair book is also quite useful, its small but I picked up a couple of handy tips that stood me well for fixing a couple of problem wheels.