Rough Forged revision reprint

[CRH113]

You know these comments are interesting, I got the Rough Forged set to get educated on before I got my first G43. which I believe was the only publication, Likewise I got Laws books when they first cam out for the K's which were later picked to pieces. As the late Dave Davis pointed out in all fairness Dick Law was the only one that made the attempt. Same for Darren yet seems the critics are still at it. Just a thought!

I believe the main issue was doing it entirely by himself and not taking input from other researchers. At least that is my recollection for the complaints on the first edition of rough forged, that and some of the photography. I don’t know if that was on purpose or accidental.

 

[jack944]

You know these comments are interesting, I got the Rough Forged set to get educated on before I got my first G43. which I believe was the only publication, Likewise I got Laws books when they first cam out for the K's which were later picked to pieces. As the late Dave Davis pointed out in all fairness Dick Law was the only one that made the attempt. Same for Darren yet seems the critics are still at it. Just a thought!

Yes...I was a researcher on BB..I lived in DC and did archive searches for Richard and filled out and handed out data sheets at Gun Shows. At the time several guys said I am going to write a book blah..blah.

None did. Richard did! The format he used was great for new collectors.

At the time there was no internet or digital photography. Long distance calls were expensive.

The conclusions were limited by the data available.

If not for Richard...I wonder how many of us would be here now...

 

[Cyrano4747]

Honestly, this is just how research and writing works. Is it better to have a comprehensive, perfect book to start with? Sure, but frequently the act of publication is what draws extra eyes to a subject and makes it clear where the mistakes and holes are that need further work. I won't presume to say that we wouldn't have the K98k books without BBotW, but if nothing else I think it's fair to say that the existence of the latter focused a lot of minds and got people talking about the observable discrepancies. I remember when the guidance for 98k resources was to buy BBotW but also keep a notebook by it so you could take notes on errors and omissions as inevitably discussed on message boards.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't recommend anyone buy BBotW today, but it's hard to crap on it too hard given the foundation that it laid and the conversations that it started. In a lot of ways that's the lens I view both Hitlers Garands and Rough Forged through. In a perfect world I'd like to see a robust community over on a G/K43 focused board really pull them apart and generate some good, published writing to correct them. (Maybe that's already happening, I'm not dialed in on the SVT40 community, for example).

As for sole authorship, it has its plusses and minuses. I don't know Weaver, never talked to him, and I have no idea what his motivations were for doing it this way. Maybe he welcomes input from fellow collectors, maybe he rudely rebuffs it. I've seen both in this hobby. What I can say, however, is that for all its obvious advantages collaborative work has its own challenges. Doubly so when the people collaborating are doing it as a hobby or a side-job. Even in academia, where everyone has "researcher" as one of their main job duties (regardless of however much teaching, administrative duties, advising, etc. can steal most of your time), collaborative projects are challenging at best. People have different priorities. Major stuff happens in their lives (births, deaths, divorces), families need tending to, etc. Frankly I'm extremely impressed that the 98k books came out at all, to say nothing of the high degree of quality. With these sorts of collaborative projects invovling individuals who have day jobs that's the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Cyrano4747]

At the time several guys said I am going to write a book blah..blah.

None did. Richard did!

This is another big part of it. Planning and executing a big research project is a skill all in itself, and organizing that into a coherent book is another entirely. There is a lot more than just sitting down and putting pen to paper. The world is full of ex-grad students who stumbled on the first hurdle and punched out with an MA, and there's a second group that managed the research but never got the writing done and never got past being ABD. And that's with being a full time student living off a research fellowship or similar, plus having an entire dissertation committee's worth of professors ready and willing to teach you the ropes.

And, at the end of the day, skills and training aside you still need to sit your butt in the chair and do it. As an old German professor I used to know put it: writing is one part thinking meat (Denkfleisch) and two parts sitting meat (Sitzfleisch). You can be the smartest, most knowledgable expert on the planet but at the end of the day if you don't sit your butt down and bang some words out it doesn't amount to much.

For all his flaws, Law put in the reps and got a book out in an era where there really wasn't much good literature on the 98k specifically.

 

[R.Blue]

This is another big part of it. Planning and executing a big research project is a skill all in itself, and organizing that into a coherent book is another entirely. There is a lot more than just sitting down and putting pen to paper. The world is full of ex-grad students who stumbled on the first hurdle and punched out with an MA, and there's a second group that managed the research but never got the writing done and never got past being ABD. And that's with being a full time student living off a research fellowship or similar, plus having an entire dissertation committee's worth of professors ready and willing to teach you the ropes.

And, at the end of the day, skills and training aside you still need to sit your butt in the chair and do it. As an old German professor I used to know put it: writing is one part thinking meat (Denkfleisch) and two parts sitting meat (Sitzfleisch). You can be the smartest, most knowledgable expert on the planet but at the end of the day if you don't sit your butt down and bang some words out it doesn't amount to much.

For all his flaws, Law put in the reps and got a book out in an era where there really wasn't much good literature on the 98k specifically.

Well said about Law-
No, the books are obsolete today but he was a major inspiration in piquing my interest in collecting 98’s…his books helped establish some sort of order to 98 production..for me anyway..
I think he would be amazed at how much information has been collected now and the amount interest out there…not to mention the prices !!