'Knitting With Wire' is a book designed to be a very practical guide for the Home Workshop. Andrew has had a lifetime of working with wood, initially making spinning wheels, furniture and joinery, then including various metals, acrylic and other media into his kaleidoscopes. While living in India for two years and seeing workers struggling to perform some quite fundamental tasks in very simple workshops, he thought it would be a good idea to write a book that passed on all the information, ideas and shortcuts he had learnt and developed over the years. Specifically, that it is possible to achieve, in a very basic workshop, things that are usually imagined to need expensive equipment, but that can be done easily and cheaply by thinking a little outside the square. His aim is to make workshop time more enjoyable, productive, and of course, safe. The book is not intended to be overly technical, but instead presents the reader with a host of simple advice and techniques to overcome production problems in a Home Workshop. Many of the ideas are just as relevant when working with wood or metal, and the reader is encouraged to build on and develop the hints to fulfil their own individual goals. 'Knitting with Wire' is written in an easy to understand and almost conversational style, supported by a large number of photos and diagrams to illustrate the various points and practices. From advice and tips on marking out, sharpening, drilling and grinding, using saws, planers, shapers and wood and engineer's lathes, 'Knitting with Wire' also has sections on a wide variety of fields that the hobbyist may meet; threading, welding, making and tempering tools and working with acrylic. Important issues such as electric motors, compressed air, dust extraction, laminating, gluing and finishing wood, powder coating metals, workshop layout and above all workshop safety are also discussed. Of course the key to competence in any endeavour is practice, but 'Knitting with Wire' will help the amateur by suggesting new possibilities to achieving a professional looking result. The Appendix has a helpful range of charts and specifications, and the book's large page size makes this an ideal volume to use as a quick reference guide, right there in the workshop.
Andrew Leary was born in the UK, but his family emigrated to New Zealand when he was six months old. He spent most of his childhood growing up in Westport, where he had to take French at school instead of indulging in his passion for woodwork and metalwork. As soon as he could, he made his own very basic lathe, and began making spinning wheels. On moving to Wellington, this soon developed into making furniture and joinery in general, using recycled and recovered timbers. A few years later he was asked to make a kaleidoscope, and this was the path he followed for more than the next thirty five years. He built his own vacuum plant to make his own front - surface mirrors, and because he wanted to make a kaleidoscope that would look at a soap bubble, invented and patented his own optic system. After moving to Kerikeri he began to make kaleidoscopes that also featured his metal and acrylic work. He has an award for Creative Ingenuity from the Brewster (kaleidoscope) Society in the USA, and one of his kaleidoscopes is in the prestigious James Wallace Collection, in Auckland . Recently he spent two years living and working in India, and while there decided it would be a good idea to write a book that would be of benefit to people with their own workshops, by passing on a lifetime of practical ideas. Andrew has two children, and now lives in Kerikeri with his wife, where he is currently working on a vacuum plant to make his own dichroic glass. His passion for kaleidoscopes and fine work continues.
