R(omeo) J(ohn) De
Cristoforo -. Born in New York city in April 28, 1917, he
died
in
California in 2000.
Career:
Beginning 1946, employed in a variety of persuits: inspector of
experimental
aircraft,
director of education materials for Magna Engineering Corp., i.e.,
Shopsmith,
teacher
of arts and crafts and freelance writer on woodworking and
carpentry-related
subjects
[See below for what DeCristoforo's
first output is, in 1946. For his publishing record, I have searched
the online database, Reader's Guide
to Periodical Literature -- which
dates back to 1890 -- and
the newspaperarchive
(subscription), where there are over 200 hits, only a few on "R J", and
those mostly in advertisements for his contributions to the such
publications as Popular Mechanics Do-It-Yourself
Encyclopedia.
The
Worldcat bibliographic database – it lists the holding of
libraries worldwide -- registers 87 hits for books authored by
DeCristoforo, but because of the nature of how individual libraries
catalog their books, you cannot conclude that he wrote over 80 books,
but that number isn’t far off.
In
the Reader’s Guide Retrospective
database (subscription required) – its coverage stretches back to 1890
-- DeCristoforo’s first article, on metalworking, is 1947 (It
wasn’t until the early ‘50s that the push for
amateur woodworking was launched.) From my calculations, DeCristoforo
was 26 in 1947, a young age to begin writing professionally, but
evidently, he had a talent, because he spent his whole career writing,
mostly on woodworking topics.) In all, Reader’s
Guide registers 187 entries under his pen.
According
to the entries in the Reader’s Guide
Retrospective database, he didn’t
start on woodworking topics until 1952, which puts him in sync with the
do-it-yourself movement – see discussion in Chapter
7 , 1951-1960, and the entries about Walt
Durbahn and Philip Creden's 1953 article, "America
Rediscovers Its Hands "
The
Shopsmith manual itself was remarkable for its depth and
comprehensiveness in showing how many woodworking operations the
Shopsmith combo tool performed. The volume is over 300 pages
– there are ten chapters -- with almost every page containing
at least one photo or illustrative diagram, but often up to 5 or
6.
In
the later ‘60s I acquired a 1947 Shopsmith model –
1947 is the year the Shopsmiths
came on the market – with a very low serial number, that I
used for several years. (For
some background on Shopsmith, both historical and technical, read this
1951 article.) Soon after buying the Shopsmith, I located the
DeCristoforo’s manual, and benefited many times from
consulting it. (Although I no longer use it, since my Shopsmith is an
antique in the genre of combo woodworking tools, I will not part with
it.)
Woodworker's
Manuals and Other Books
1953: Power
Tool Woodworking for Everyone, New York: McGraw, 1953, 283
pages
1955: Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone,
Cincinnati: Magna Publications, 1955, 341 pages.
At age 33, R J Decristoforo evidently was
commissioned to write the Shopsmith manual early in the ‘50s
decade, because this first edition came out in 1953. After a
long, successful career of writng
on woodworking, Decristoforo
died at 83, in 2004. Among writers on topics of amateur woodworkers in
the last half of the 20th century, DeCristoforo
is probably the most prolific.
This
1953 title seems to be his earliest book. (I have a copy of the 1953
original and the 1955 update.)
[Today
-- 5-25-07 -- I found a discussion that sorts out the different
editions of this important book, and when I am able to talk with the
main person in this discussion, I will post some details that I hope
will help sort out the differences between the Shopsmith manuals
authored by DeCristoforo in the 1950s.]
1967: Modern
Power Tool Woodworking, Magna Publications, 1967.
1959:
The New Handyman's Carpentry Guide, Fawcett, 1959.
1959:
Plywood Projects You Can Build, Fawcett, 1959.
1960:
Handyman's Concrete and Masonry Handbook, Arco, 1960.
1960: Home Carpentry
Handbook, Fawcett, 1960.
1960: How
to Choose and Use Power Tools, Arco, 1960,
(published as Mechanix
Illustrated: How to Choose and Use Power Tools, Fawcett, 1960.
1961:
Fun with a Saw, McGraw, 1961.
1962:
New Carpentry Handbook, Fawcett, 1962.
1962:
Concrete and Masonry Ideas for the Homeowner, Fawcett, 1962.
1963:
Mechanix Illustrated: The How-to Book of Carpentry, Fawcett,
1963, published as The How-to Book of Carpentry,
Arco, 1966.
1964: How-to Book of Concrete
and Masonry, Fawcett, 1964.
1965:
How to Build Your Own Furniture,
Harper, 1965.
1969: The
Practical Book of Carpentry, Arco, 1969.
1972:
De Cristoforo's Complete Book of Power Tools,
Popular Science, 1972.
1975: Concrete
and Masonry: Techniques and Design, Reston, 1975.
1977: Hand Tool
Woodworking, H. P. Books, 1977.
1975:
De Cristoforo's House Building Illustrated, Harper,
1977.
Also author of Woodworking
Techniques: Joints and Their Applications, Reston. Contributor
to encyclopedias, including The Practical
Handyman's Encyclopedia and Popular
Science Homeowner's Encyclopedia. Contributor of
poetry, fiction, and over
one thousand how-to articles to Popular
Science, Popular Mechanics,
Better Homes and Gardens, and
other magazines.
