Woodworking Books

[news.verizon.net]

Hi, all.

Just to get this out of the way up front, I did a google search. (lol)

I figured that since I was a newbie, and since this topic doesn't seem to have been covered very well here since 1999 or so (which surprises me, given everyone's enthusiasm about recommending posters to read, read, read), I figured I'd be the sacrificial lamb to ask: What top 10 woodworking books would you recommend? So far as I can see, "Understanding Wood" (by R. Bruce Hoadley), and "Understanding Wood Finishing" (by Bob Flexner) are both widely recommended.

I was wondering what other books you all would recommend. For example, is "Woodworker's Hand Tools" (by Rick Peters) a good pick? I was also planning on buying at least one good book each on making jigs, woodworking (general), band saws, table saws, joinery, & routers (although I hear that Pat warners book is limited to individual routers rather than technique-- even though I love his website). Do you think these types of books would give a good background, or do you feel there is more essential reading material I should consider first?

And, yes, I have a library card. I have been reading quite a bit, actually, and am simply asking to see what people consider to be essential to a library. (Also, yes, I am looking into taking a local class in woodworking. -- Did I steal too many people's thunder? lol.)

So, top 10, anyone??

-Barry

[Larry Jaques]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 08:09:08 GMT, "Groggy" pixelated:

Suckage.

Thanks. I'll bookmark it, and let's hope bkeane sees it.

- - - Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever. ---

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[John Grossbohlin]

I've taken a different track here... Instead of looking for definitive works, typically written by a single author, I've gone the route of buying pretty much everything I can find from remainder vendors. I'm looking for variance across writers in techniques and ideas. From the multitude of works I pick and choose what works for me given my current task and the tools I either have or can buy at that moment.

The result of this approach is that over the past four years or so I've added 150+ books to my shelves. The remainder vendors sell cheap so the dollars involved here are not too bad... and there is always at least one useful item in a book no matter how good it is overall. If nothing else, some books are useful as a way to identify other works that may be better--particularly the more scholarly books that have citations. As an example, I paid about $7-8 for the 2nd Edition of Hoadley's book in hard cover whereas Amazon gets $28.

John

[Eric Lund]

A hard question to answer, because it depends on what you like to make and what style you prefer. Tage Frid teaches Woodworking is always highly recommended. If you are particularly interested in hand tools, then both Garrett Hack's and Graham Blackburn's books are good. David Charlesworth is a very practical British author. There really are so many. Just to add names: Doug Stowe, Andy Rae, Ian Kirby, Kelly Mehler, James Krenov, Toshio Odate, Scott Landis and many more. I really don't know if I could narrow it down to 10 books. Some of these authors, you really couldn't go wrong with

3 or more of their books.

Cheers, Eric

[Jack-of-all-trades - JOAT]

Fri, Aug 29, 2003, 3:28am (EDT+4) [e-mail] (news.verizon.net) claims: Just to get this out of the way up front, I did a google search. (lol)

Ah, but you didn't say what you searched for. LOL

At last, someone that has done the homework assignment. Having said that, I don't have any recommendations of books. I figure that is a personal thing. What I may like, you may not, etc.

What I do recommend is, that you actually hold the book(s) you are interested in your hand, and thumb thru it, and be sure it is one you really want, before you lay out the cash. One way is see what your library has, then, if they don't have it, go to a bookstore, and thumb thru it. If both don't have it, ask your library to get a copy on loan. It will cost a bit for that service, but it's better than paying full price for a book, and then finding out it only has one article of interest to you. That can get expensive fast.

I also highly recommend used book stores. I got a lot of pretty expensive books for usually about $4-5 US, and a few a bit more. Older, out of print books, I have gotten a lot of them at about $1-2 each.

JOAT If we're all God's children, what's so special about Jesus?

Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 28 Aug 2003. Some tunes I like.