FREE BOOKS AND ARTICLES
BOOKS
These books are hosted on a file server. Click the links and download. Some of them I've read and some I haven't. I've spent many hours sleuthing these books out, but have no doubt there are more that I haven't found yet. I plan to add more books on more subjects in the future.
ORCHARDING AND FRUIT BOOKS
TREE TRAINING AND PRUNING RELATED BOOKS AND STUFF
This study probably should have revolutionized fruit tree training, but seems to have had little effect. Hopefully it still can.
LEATHER AND SKIN RELATED BOOKS
LEATHER TANNING AND RELATED BOOKS
Over 35 old out of copyright books and journals related to tanning leather by various methods. I suspect that the majority of worthwhile books that have been printed in English are in this collection. This is where a lot of the best information is, but the cost is reading through this huge quantity of material to find it. Those without any tanning experience may find the professional level books here over their head, but there are also some home tanning books in here.
TANNING MATERIALS BOOKS
While the tanning books collection will have a lot of information on materials used in tanning, these books are specifically about all of the barks, roots, fruits, wood and leaves used to vegetable tan leather. The best one, Howe's Vegetable Tanning Materials is not yet out of copyright, though it can be found used.
HIDE GLUE BOOKS
These are older books mostly on making and using animal glues, like hide, fish and tendon glues. There are some other glues discussed though. Most of them are technical manuals for professionals.
LEATHER WORKING BOOKS
Books on working with leather that are out of copyright.
WILLOW BASKETRY BOOKS
BASKET WILLOW CULTIVATION AND BASKET WEAVING
FREE SAMPLE CHAPTERS FROM BUCKSKIN, THE ANCIENT ART OF BRAINTANNING
These are full chapters from the buckskin book I wrote with Tamara Wilder for Paleotechnics in 1997. These are chapters that might be particularly useful on their own, such as skinning and hide preservation. This book is currently out of print, but hopefully back in print within a year.
FORMULA BOOKS
Formula books are crammed full of tips and recipes for households, farms and shops. Some are geared toward general households, others are more for shop use, business or sometimes specific professions. These are a gold mine of information for those who like to do for themselves, make good use of household materials, understand materials and processes and generally be more resourceful and knowledgeable about technical matters. These books have been invaluable to me over the years in my quest for knowledge related to materials, processes and self reliance matters.