By: Richard Stein

Richard Stein — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:33:12 +0000

A few years before the current slow-motion crash, I found bound copies of the Delta, ‘Deltagram’ from the era of that other big event. They make fascinating reading, not simply to illustrate the perpetual magazine problem of finding something new to say after you’ve essentially said it all.
There is a great emphasis on recycling scrap, making ‘salable’ toys and gizmos, presumably for survival, and generally making do. Nearly every article starts with its own economic motivation. Other than very casual promotion of the Delta products, there is almost no mention of power tools, fancy woods, giant home shops (except for the mass production of aforesaid toys and gizmos).
The Great Depression turned people’s expectations around rather quickly, and ordinary shop skills suddenly bubbled up as important fall-backs for diminished circumstances. I’d recommend reading through issues from 1930 onward; they might offer some answers to your question.

Comments on: Woodworking in Tough Times

By: Richard Stein