SOLDERING, BRAZING & WELDING A Manual of Techniques. The Crowood Press. Paperback – 160 pages. Author Derek Pritchard ISBN 1-86126-391-0

Welding, and to a lesser degree Soldering and Brazing are skills akin to riding a bicycle, something you cannot learn from a book. It does however prevent you from ‘getting better at doing the wrong thing’. Knowing what to do and how to do it are half the battle. The skill can only come with practice. Each of these subjects would need a book ten times the size to cover fully, and condensing the essentials into a book of this size requires some skill. The author has succeeded in a very informative and readable style with each of the nine chapters covering virtually every aspect of this interesting subject. As befits a ‘hands on’ subject the book is packed with clear concise drawings. Apart from Soldering and Brazing, it covers Oxy-Acetylene, MMA, MIG, TIG, with an excellent section on Quality Control. Anyone, from the professional welder to the modeller, will find this book an excellent source of information and guidance. A small point of criticism, the section on ‘Lead Soldering’ totally ignores recent EU legislation (WEEE) banning lead from Electrical & Electronics soldering. Read this section with care.

This book is available from Tee Publishing. £14.99 + £2.70 pp

Colin Usher