Excitement to sadness: The story of a 2 minute phone call to the public library.

JC in SC

JC in SC

Joined
Feb 28, 2009
Messages
1,050
After seeing several awesome slip joint WIP threads here and over at Knifedogs, I've become intrigued with slippies. We're trying to sell our house, so I've put my forging ambitions on hold for a while until we move. I think slippies more readily lend themselves to being built after hours at my place of employment as compared to a forged blade. I'm eager to try my hand at making a few, so I was looking for a book on design basics. I kept reading about Shadley's "How to build multi-blade folding knives" as the definitive text on the subject. A quick search shows them available used for $225 to $500:eek: I decided to check the local libraries to see if a copy could be found. Surprisingly, the main branch of the county I grew up in showed a listing on-line. I couldn't believe it, but man was I excited:thumbup: I called my mom to see if she'd check it out for me since I now live in another county. She pulled it up on-line while we were on the phone and we noticed that the listing looked somewhat odd. Rather than send her down there for no reason, I called the main branch. The librarian pulled up the listing and quickly discovered the reason for the oddity. The book is "missing" and has been flagged for replacement. Obviously I don't know for sure, but my immediate reaction was that some punk stumbled upon it on-line, noticed the outrageous prices used books are bringing and then stole the library copy to sell it on-line:thumbdn: So now I'm back to square 1. Anyway, thought I'd share my disappointment with the situation and thieves in general.
 
I have friends working in the library system. The staff doesn't care when expensive electronics go missing because the gub'mint (taxpayer) pays to replace them, and expensive books never make it to the shelf because they're stolen by staff when they come off the truck.:rolleyes:
 
The librarian mentioned that it had been flagged for replacement, but while we were talking she pulled it up on half.com and upon seeing the market rate said that it wouldn't be replaced.
 
Neato. I'd like to see what you come up with.
 
I read on one of the forums that Mr. Shadley was selling copies of his section of the book.

You might want to try to contact him and see if he still has some copies.

Take care

Charles
 
I had a copy of the archaeologist Sir William Flinders-Petrie's classic book showing photos and drawings of his finds from a lifetime prowling about in the ancient world, Tools and Weapons from the University of New Mexico Library some years ago. I mentioned when I returned it that the binding could use some repair. Next time I went to look at it, pfhhht! It had vanished. No sign of it onthe shelf, in the card catalog, on the computer. The reference desk person explained the bindery probably declared it not worth fixing. Cheapest copy I could find was $300. Now, it was a pulp paper edition done as WWI was breaking out, admittedly, but certainly it could have easily been repaired. Books there are routinely stolen or key pages ripped out.
 
Charles Vestal said:
I read on one of the forums that Mr. Shadley was selling copies of his section of the book.

You might want to try to contact him and see if he still has some copies.

Take care

Charles
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If anyone has Mr. Shadley's contact info, please PM me. I tried Google, but came up with nothing.
 
GrizzlyBear said:
Why in the WORLD is this paperback book selling for $250+?!?!?!
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I assume because there aren't many copies available, it is currently out-of-print and it is the definitive text on multi-blade slippies. Supply and demand:eek:
 
GrizzlyBear said:
Why in the WORLD is this paperback book selling for $250+?!?!?!
Click to expand...

It's out of print and the used market is the only source.

What burns me is that those $250 books are the marked up and chewed up former library copies.

A good clean book will cost $400 to $500


It's not just punk patrons, the libraries are selling these book off themselves, tossing good info because of low circulation and buying hundreds of pulp romance novels for the women who can read a book or two every day.
 
I have been active at converting some long out of print books into electronic format and making them available in the public domain. Of course, if you wish to do this with a book that is still under copyright protection you will need the permission of the copyright holder. However, I have found that they are often quite cooperative as long as there is not potential backlash to them (i.e. you aren't altering the work or asking them to do anything other than give their approval). After all, they aren't making money on the resales of the books, so they generally have no compelling reason to refuse such requests.

Once you've scanned and converted the book to PDF (or other single file form), you can upload them to archive.org, which acts as a sort of central repository for public domain documents. I've put a number of scanned books there (not about knifemaking). It's simple and straightforward.

Since it was once said that there are no secrets among knifemakers, it seems like this community might be one that supports this approach to information sharing.

- Greg
 
Hey if the clean copies are going for $400-500 I might have to dig out my copy.

JC in SC, I will try to remember to look up Gene's contact info when I get home from work.

Take care

Charles
 
There is a service that most libraries offer, it is called Inter Library Loan. If you go in to the Main branch (or even some sattelites) and fill out a form with the books ISBN they can contact other Libraries across the country - even University Libraries participate. Your Library will look online to see if there are any participating Libraries that have your book in stock and then get it for you on loan. Usually this is free but there can be a small shipping fee on occasion. I could check into that if you haven't already.

Good Luck.
 
Charles Vestal said:
Here you go JC, info from "Knives 2010"

Eugene Shadley
26315 Norway Drive
Bovey,MN 55709

Phone (218)245-1639
email bses@uslink.net

Good luck in your search

Charles
Click to expand...

Thanks Charles. I emailed Mr. Shadley yesterday, so I'll wait a few days before I call. We'll see what happens.

Hillbillenigma said:
There is a service that most libraries offer, it is called Inter Library Loan. If you go in to the Main branch (or even some sattelites) and fill out a form with the books ISBN they can contact other Libraries across the country - even University Libraries participate. Your Library will look online to see if there are any participating Libraries that have your book in stock and then get it for you on loan. Usually this is free but there can be a small shipping fee on occasion. I could check into that if you haven't already.

Good Luck.
Click to expand...

I did find a website that supposedly shows all the available copies at libraries across the country. Who knows how accurate it is, but it showed ~16 across the US. I wonder if Congress loans their books out:rolleyes: Regardless, this will be Plan B if Mr. Shadley doesn't have anything available.
 
J.C.

There is a copy listed on the Knifedogs forum under Supplies for sale for $155 . It is the paperback copy.

Joe
 
Libraries are great but the problem is that with this particular book...it is a never ending supply of information...something you cannot completely understand or remember in a two week period. Renting this book would be like renting a set of encyclopedias for a week....can't be done. I read small parts of it constantly. If you receive a copy from a library....copy it..if legal. It is a reference book that I do not tire of.
 
joe sangster said:
J.C.

There is a copy listed on the Knifedogs forum under Supplies for sale for $155 . It is the paperback copy.

Joe
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up, but already SPF. I'm also kinda cheap, so it pains me to pay that much for something that retailed for $19.95; however, it seems to be an invaluable resource, so I might have to suck it up.
 
I went to the MLK library in San Jose, CA when I lived there for a few months- they had a video of Miyairi Akihira forging swords that I wanted to see so badly. It was "EARMARC"-ed and could not be viewed or used by anyone but affiliated students. I tried to explain to them that I was a student of that very subject, that I would treat it with the utmost care, etc. but they would not even let me watch it. I still have not seen it. Man, was I PO'ed.
Sorry, a personal gripe I guess, but believe me, I can identify about libraries. Love the institution, hate some of the patrons.
 
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