The Woodworker's Library

The place i find the most wood working books are the half price book stores near me. I think the books are basically obsolete since there is so much good info online. I did buy one for building a canoe. I hope i can get that going soon!

“The soul of a Tree” – Nakashima

“A Cabinetmaker’s Notebook” – Krenov

-- Jesse Felling - http://www.fellingstudio.com

“A reverence for wood” is one of my favorites. Sloan also wrote “A museum of early american tools” that is a fun read. My Favorites by Krenov are “art of cabinet making”, “The impractical cabinet maker” and “with wakened hands” all good reads. Jeff miller has “The foundations of better woodworking” and “Chair making and design”. I suppose it all depends on what avenue of woodworking you want to pursue. I think it is a good idea to start with an old textbook from a wood shop class. I have found a few of them from years ago that are very comprehensive. For the philosophical approach there is Nakashima, Krenov or history with books from Roubo, Moxon, Flabien, Shereton, Chippendale and Hepplewhite. A very comprehensive manual that is more modern is “Woodworking wisdom and know-how” by fine woodworking. I have shelves of reference books in the shop and almost all of the fine woodworking issues, but I keep my favorites books by my computer. Every room in my house has a woodworking book or magazine laying around. Very fun thread, something I can definitely relate to. I look forward to more discussion on this one.

-- Brian Noel

I forgot my Pictures

-- Brian Noel

I forgot my Pictures

Notice the bookends ;)

- bearkatwood

-- Brian Noel

I’ll have to add these suggestions to my amazon wish list.

I’ve also flipped through ‘A Museum of Early American Tools.” I’ve been meaning to pick up Watson’s hand tool book; I’ve seen Paul Sellers recommends it so it must be good!

Brian- Those are cool bookends. I’m working on my book case now and am in need of some, myself.

I just finished “Making Aunthentic Shaker Furniture” by John G. Shea. It included a ton of pictures and measured drawings of Shaker pieces, as well as a lot of info on Shaker craftsmanship.

‘Classic American Furniture’ by Chris Schwarz and editors of Woodworking Magazine, has some good Shaker and Arts & Crafts projects. Besides plans, the authors also include a good bit of background info on the furniture itself.

Hi Matt,
Admittedly most all of my books lack measured drawings for furniture save a few here and there. They are targeted more to the concepts of woodworking. One book I didn’t mention, but can’t recommend highly enough is Peter Galberts “Chairmaker’s Notebook”. I am a chairmaker so it is obviously one of my favorites, but it shares a good core understanding of wood movement and what is required to make a good piece of furniture. Over the last four years I have received many orders for furniture based solely on a photograph and I had to deconstruct them and build them with sometimes just one view of the piece. It is fairly straight forward with a desk or chair as those base measurements (29-30” for a table/desk and 16-17.5” for a chair) are pretty consistent. It is a good skill to learn if you ever see something in a photo you would like to build, you can make your own plans. Another good book is Walker and Tolpins’ “By hand and Eye”. It talks about proportions and ratios concerned with making a piece that is pleasing to the eye. Your coffee table turned out beautiful by the way. I have made a few pieces where I tried to showcase the pith pockets and defects of the wood to show its’ flaws and some people just don’t like it, they think it is by mistake or poorly done. I think it shows the truth of the wood. Hope you get some great books. Best of luck.
Brian

-- Brian Noel

Brian,

Thanks! I really wanted to showcase the beauty and character of the lumber cherry in the coffee table. I also had a small supply of cherry to choose from, so I decided to make the best use of the two pieces with the bark inclusion. I’ve started thinking about a serving-type table to match it. I like the project books and books with a lot of drawings because they give me ideas, which I can adapt to the lumber I have on hand. All the cherry I have is in short pieces, around 4’ long mostly. I’m finding that it’s teaching me to think about how I use each piece in the project.

‘By Hand and Eye’ and ‘A Chairmaker’s Notebook’ are also on my long list to read. ‘Furniture of Necessity’ also looks to be really interesting; I think it comes out next year and has a few chair projects in it.

I will look for that one. Gary Rogowski told me he is working on a new book too, I don’t know when it will come out though.

-- Brian Noel

My favorite books are Roy Underhill’s “The Woodwright’s Shop”, “The Woodwright’s Companion” and
“The Woodwright’s Work Book”. He starts with the tree and gives you a good history of woodworking
and explains how to do most woodworking and how to make the tools necessary. I still enjoy going back
re reading his books.

-- As ever, Gus-the 83 yr young apprentice carpenter

If you want to read online, try https://archive.org/

A lot of what you find there you can download in different formats or read online. Good way to load up a kindle or e-reader.

Can also try some of these:
http://www.wkfinetools.com/mLibrary/mLibrary_index-1.asp

http://www.evenfallstudios.com/woodworks_library/woodworks_library.html#Shop%20Mathematics%20and%20Calculation

http://toolemera.com/Books%20%26%20Booklets/library-sharpeni.html

http://www.forgottenbooks.com/Technology_and_Engineering/Carpentry

-- Rule 7 - Always be specific when you lie

You want to know everything there is to know about wood try this one;

http://www.amazon.com/Seasoning-Wood-Joseph-Bernard-Wagner-ebook/dp/B004TIJM6M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441229307&sr=8-1&keywords=seasoning+of+wood+wagner&pebp=1441229315526&perid=1SHQGWGHXVN96GKXG3B8

-- Brian Noel

Just finished “Oak: The Frame of Civilization,” by William Bryant Logan. It discusses the significance of oak throughout history. It was pretty interesting and a fun read. Oak isn’t the biggest or strongest tree in the world, but it really is the most prolific tree as far as usage by us for use in construction, furniture, heating (firewood and charcoal), and a variety of other things from food to ink. I recommend this to anyone who likes to read about social and natural history.

Here’s another: Eric Sloane’s “American Barns and Covered Bridges.” You might tell from the title this book doesn’t cover furniture building. However, it’s full of information on the old ways of building barns and bridges. It discusses tools, lumber selection (including lumber while the tree still stands) and is full of American folklore and long-forgotten history. It’s full of really nice drawings of barns, bridges, and tools. It’s a good read for anyone interested in how things were built back in the early days of America.

The Complete Woodworker & The Practical Woodworker

both by Bernard E. Jones

they echo everything Henry taught me.

of course Japanese Woodworking Tools by Toshio Odate