Hi Gang,
So, in doing a little digging on the SNAG website, to further
eddicate myself (re the recent thread), I discovered something: they
did a book of a bunch of the more serious technical papers that’ve
appeared in the SNAG newsletter over the years. Who knew? I’m in
it, and I never knew.
One of the things that many people don’t know is that for reasons
that passeth understanding, many moons ago was it decided that the
“serious” technical papers got shunted off to the SNAG newsletter,
which was direct mailed only to the members. So nobody ever saw
them.
Personally, I’ve always thought that was a horrible decision, but it
is what it was. Meanwhile, some of the technical papers are pretty
good. The book covers articles from 1975-2010. They’re reprinted
exactly as written originally, so some are a bit dated, but a bunch
of the really seminal papers are there: Joe Hall’s article on
titanium coloring, Heikki Seppa’s “notes about shellforming” Hiroko
and Gene Pijanowski’s first paper on Mokume, Michael Good’s ribbon
torque paper, as well as my work with damascene overlay. (not to
toot my own horn too much.)
It’s called “Tech Text: a compilation of SNAG technical articles,
1975-2010”. It’s available from Blurb.com. Search “Tech Text” if
this link doesn’t work:
Since I just ponied up for a copy, it came with a 15% off promo
code. Apparently there’s somewhere in the checkout process where you
can enter a coupon code. “BEAUTIFULBOOK” Works until 11/30/13.
In looking at the Blurb site, there isn’t an easy way to view the
table of contents, so here it is:
Questions & Hints (1975 issue of GoldDust)
Twisted Sprues (Goldsmith’s journal)
Selective Plating-Marv Rubinstein
Electroforming workshop (at Tyler, 1976) Doug Ostrander
Diffusion Lamination - Hiroko & Gene Pijanowski
Shell Structures - Heikki Seppa
Reticulation - John Verhoven & Rohit Trivedi
Non-ferrous Hot Smithing - Thomas Markusen
Spray Etching - Linda Threadgill
Improvised Wax Injector - J. Patrick McCrary
Silver institute paper on silver properties
Reactive Metals - Joseph Hall
Box Clasp Variations - Vittoria Cozzi-Olivetti
Nickel Silver Perforation - Paulette Myers
Interior Dies - Lee Marshall (RT Dies with a twist)
Micro-Fold Forming - Jack Berry
Large Sectional Enamels - Jean Foster Jenkins
Small Stakes - Bill Fretz
Gold Painting - John Cogswell
Ribbon Torcs - Michael Good
Electrolytic Etching - Dauvit Alexander
Damascene Foil Overlay - Brian Meek
Flex Shaft - Daniel & Janice Niebauer
Enamel Imagery - Sharon Massey
The Meaning of Screws - Patricia Nelson
The Green Stuff - Jim Bove
Pewter - T. J. Fejka
TIG Welding for jewelry - Sean Macmillian
Wax carving - Jim Bove.
For those who say SNAG never publishes anything technical, they do.
They just hide it where nobody (even members) ever really sees it.
So now’s your chance to get a copy.
What struck me most, in reading through some of the old (pre 1990’s)
articles was how many of them mention funding from the NEA. After
about 1990 or so, I don’t think a single one of them does. Times
have changed to the point where the “funded by the National
Endowment for the Arts” stuff in the early articles just seemed
weird. Incomprehensible, and shocking somehow.
Yeah. Welcome to the 21st century.
Meanwhile, enjoy the fruits of a bunch of people’s hard work.
Brian