The undying enthusiasm of the author for stone, craftsmanship and a sound ethical approach to repair shines through in this lavishly illustrated volume. Fresh from giving us the benefits of his experience in his previous contribution to the field, The Craft of Stonemasonry (2012), Daniels now embarks on a comprehensive practical elucidation of architectural stone conservation and repair. The writing style is uniquely the author’s own and strikes a personal and familiar note from the start with cleverly titled and lighthearted touches to the text. If you thought books about stone conservation were dry, scientific and objective, think again! Here is a refreshingly subjective view of the subject designed for, in the author’s words, the ‘Artisan’; an artisan with an enquiring mind and natural curiosity and consequently one who enjoys and appreciates their vocation. The layout of the book and sequence of chapters leads the reader through topics of Stone Decay and Stone Selection to two very useful chapters about ‘The Workplace’ and ‘Tool Skills’, where ample illustrations show every type of working environment and the wide range of tools required for themany tasks which stone conservation and repair demands. Photographs exemplifying the author’s advice of ‘what not to do’ both shock and educate the reader. While on the subject of photographs, I praise the extensive selection the author hasmade and the informative captions but inmore than one example I foundmyself wanting to knowmore about the location of a reference. The next chapter, ‘Lime and Mortars’, gives us further essential background information before we get into the nitty gritty of the actual conservation and repair work. A wonderful illustration in the author’s own artistic hand of a lime kiln is a joy to behold, and ‘a More Fun Method’ of slaking lime for those who want to live a little dangerously is strictly for those with experience. Health and safety is dealt with throughout this book in a practical and sensible way. Anecdotes about how things can so easily go wrong are salutary lessons. Eminently practical chapters on ‘Repointing; Dutchman Repairs’ (good to see so much space devoted to a skill which is so often overlooked); ‘Mortar Repairs’ (the author doesn’t just make the mortar for his repair work, hemakes his own fired clay armatures as well and tells us how tomake our own!); ‘Consolidation’ (a healthy dose of scepticism about the effectiveness of consolidants); ‘Cleaning’ (with a useful at-a-glance list of ‘What is Used andWhat it Does’); and finally, ‘Casting’ (a good overview and fascinating two page spread on Scagliola illustrating how to make it). This is a practical book, written by an artisan who clearly loves his profession. Opinions are generously shared and even if we might find it hard to agree with all of them none can deny they are food for thought!

中文翻译：

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石材修复手册：石材和砖石保护修复实用指南

在这本插图丰富的书中，作者对石材、工艺和健全的道德修复方法的不朽热情体现得淋漓尽致。丹尼尔斯从他之前对该领域的贡献中的经验中获益，《石工工艺》（2012 年），丹尼尔斯现在开始对建筑石材的保护和修复进行全面的实践阐释。写作风格是作者自己的独特风格，从一开始就以巧妙的标题和轻松的文字触动了个人和熟悉的笔记。如果您认为有关石材保护的书籍枯燥、科学和客观，请再想一想！这是一个令人耳目一新的主观观点，用作者的话来说，是为“工匠”而设计的；一位具有探索精神和天生好奇心的工匠，因此喜欢并欣赏他们的职业。本书的布局和章节顺序引导读者通过“石材腐烂”和“石材选择”的主题，找到关于“工作场所”和“工具技能”的两个非常有用的章节，其中充足的插图展示了各种类型的工作环境和广泛的石材保护和修复所需的许多任务所需的工具。举例说明作者“不该做什么”建议的照片既震撼又教育读者。在谈到照片这一主题时，我赞扬作者所做的广泛选择和信息丰富的标题，但在不止一个例子中，我发现自己想更多地了解参考文献的位置。下一章，“石灰和砂浆”，在我们进入实际保护和修复工作的本质之前，为我们提供了进一步的基本背景信息。作者自己的石灰窑艺术之手的精彩插图令人赏心悦目，而对于那些想要有点危险的人来说，“一种更有趣的生石灰方法”只适合有经验的人。本书以实用和明智的方式处理健康和安全问题。关于事情如此容易出错的轶事是有益的教训。关于“重新定位”的非常实用的章节；Dutchman Repairs'（很高兴看到如此多的空间专门用于一项经常被忽视的技能）；“迫击炮修理”（作者不只是为他的修理工作制作迫击炮，他还制作了自己的烧制粘土骨架，并告诉我们如何制作自己的！）；“合并”（对合并者的有效性持怀疑态度）；'清洁'（带有一个有用的“使用的东西和它的作用”一目了然的列表）；最后是“铸造”（Scagliola 上很好的概述和引人入胜的两页，说明了如何制作）。这是一本实用的书，作者是一位热爱自己职业的工匠。意见是慷慨分享的，即使我们可能会发现很难同意所有意见，但也不能否认它们是值得深思的！