Good Old Handbook Suggestions...?

HI all,

I looking for some suggestions of a good old school handbook I can keep in the workshop, one that has tap drill sizes, cutting rates, the weight of steel, number of teeth per inch of BSW - you know the sort of thing. The sort of thing my grandfather would have bought when he started his training 90 years ago! I perhaps don't need one quite that old, but something from the 50s would be fine.

I think in America they have the Machinary's Handbook, but obviously I want something with a more British focus. Ideas?

James

The Zeus book is good oil resistant and a handy small size

But I tend to find tables of the things I need and print out to a4 and place in a display folder

My go-to first reference is normally Metalworker's Data Book by Harold Hall, no 42 in the Workshop Practice series.

The machinery's handbook is probably the most informative guide out there. It has served in the UK for as many years as I can remember. Engineering tables are Engineering tables world wide. What was good 50 years ago mostly still applies now. I use the small Zeus pads and some others but still use TMH often. I believe the newer versions have been metricised somewhat. There are of course many other good reference books around.

regards

Model Engineers Handbook by Tubal Cain is pretty, erm, handy.

I got mine by chance when I paid a fiver at a Warco open day for a job lot of books that included two Unimat books I wanted. I found it so useful I bought a second copy to keep by my desk.

Brian

See if you can hunt down a copy of "Fowlers" machinists book. Smaller and easier to look through than Machinery Handbook. I use mine (an early 1933 copy) often. It has all the things like sizes of Whitworth hexagons and across flats/corners. Weight of steel etc. A good section that is understandable about Trigonometry. I think it was published up until the mid 1960s.

+1

It's often my first goto reference.

Russell

+1 for Tubal Cain; it's concise and cheap enough to replace if it gets mucky in a workshop.

I rate my 1947 Newnes Engineer's Reference Book highly. It has an emphasis on British practice (also covers metric and US)

For wider reference, it's hard to beat Machinery's Handbook. My copy (1975) covers US, British and Metric. Newnes is 1378 pages (and does most of what I want). Machinery's has more depth and coverage in 2482 pages .

My Newnes and Machinery's were both bought cheap secondhand; the internet is wonderful.

Be aware that although older books cover all the basics well and are very helpful with long obsolete standards needed to do a restoration, they don't cover important modern techniques and materials like DROs, Carbide Inserts, VFDs, 3D CAD and adhesives etc. etc. Another common booby trap is the wild goose chase resulting if you try to source long discontinued brands and material sizes. Sometimes they are unobtainium, or, as is the case with Whitworth fasteners, only available from specialists at top-whack prices. The older the book, the worse the problem.

Dave

Thanks all - some really good suggestions. I will check them out.

James

Tubal Cain's book. Mainly because it is also a good read, not just boring tables (sic).