27 Books Every Woodworker Should Read
Experts and editors weigh in on the volumes that fostered and fed their careersSynopsis: Do you remember which book had the biggest impact on your woodworking career? We polled Fine Woodworking authors and editors to find out which titles inspired them when they were starting out. Each volume on the list is, in our opinion, a must read.
Ask around and you may find two common themes among woodworkers: Their shops are overrun with old handplanes, and their bookshelves are brimming with inspiring tomes on the craft.
We decided to survey Fine Woodworking’s staff members and regular contributors to find out which books have had the greatest impact on their woodworking careers. Many remember the book that first got them hooked or was responsible for influencing the techniques and philosophies that they continue to practice in their shops today.
While some popular titles didn’t make our list, the ones we compiled can serve as a great source of inspiration, as well as provide answers to many questions about the properties of the materials, about the concepts of furniture design and craftsmanship, and about the techniques that have been practiced in the woodshop for centuries. They include some not-so-obvious titles as well as a few always-referenced ones, such as Ernest Joyce’s Encyclopedia of Furniture Making and R. Bruce Hoadley’s Understanding Wood. While some of these books could be considered antiques, the information they promote remains fresh.
If you ask us, all of these books are mustreads. And if nothing else, adding them to your collection may be just the inspiration you need to get started on that new bookcase you’ve been meaning to build.
Launchpad for beginners
The New Yankee Workshop by Norm Abram. Little, Brown & Co., 1989.
After watching many episodes of The New Yankee Workshop with a mixture of admiration and disdain, I was surprised with the book as a Christmas gift from my wife in the early 1990s. I ended up building three or four projects of the dozen inside, including the workbench that I still have. Advanced woodworkers like to poke fun at Abram with his every-power-tool-ever-made mentality and his reliance on combination stains and finishes, but he guides novices into woodworking, and for that we all should be grateful. —Mark Schofield is an associate editor.
A chair maker’s chair maker
Make a Chair From a Tree by John D. Alexander. Astragal Press (look for the enlarged 1994 edition of the 1978 original).
This was the first book that I read from The Taunton Press, and to me it’s the reference point for greenwood chair making. It came out in 1978 when very few people were riving out green wood and building projects with it. The book teaches about ringporous woods such as oak, how they shrink, and what to expect out of them when used green. The author spent a lot of time researching the subject and running his own tests, and much of the information in the book remains sound, despite recent innovations.
From Fine Woodworking #175
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