What are your favorite books?

Todd124 | Posted in General Discussion on June 7, 2007 06:15am

I am the shop teacher for Chimacum High School in Washington state. I teach two levels of shop, the first year is an introduction to traditional woodworking with an emphasis on sharp hand tools and appropriate, but limited power tool use. The second year students is wooden boat building and they built three William Atkins’ skiffs this year. There are twelve student in this class and with constant cajoling, threats and some flogging they have nearly completed their boats. They are justifiably proud of their work and the boats are pretty darn nice. They are glued plywood lapstrake with steam bent chines and red or yellow cedar seats etc. They are also completing very nice oars to go along with them. Two of the boats are sold and I expect the last to go quickly. The first year students do pretty well too, starting with required projects: an Krenov style hand plane, a mallet, a toolbox and a small display cabinet, then they can chose their own projects. My book question is this: I have asked for $1000.00 from the district for a refenence library for the boat class and the beginning woodworking class. They will give me the money but they require a list of books to order. They need this ASAP and I had hoped they would simply give me authorization so that I might pick and choose at my leisure. No such luck. So I would like a book suggestion list for an introductiory woodworking class. Things that the kids could look something up in when they have a question and or be inspired by. As well as project books. They need to be in print, as I need to simply order them considering the time frame. If you have an ISBN number all the better. I sent a similar request to the Wooden Boat Magazine forum and thought I would ask you folks too.- Thanks Todd Miller

Replies

forestgirl | Jun 07, 2007 06:38am | #1
There have been 2 or 3 threads with book lists in the last year. Here are two I found, not specific to beginners or boats, but something to get you started:
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages?msg=22737.10

http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages?msg=31637.1

I put together a small box of magazines and books for a member of another forum, who never showed up at Tom's party. They'd not be great stuff, but there is some useful information in them. I'd be glad to donate them to your library. I can also check and see if any of my duplicate Fine Woodworking Magazines involve boatmaking. just LMK if you're interested.

forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
HWG | Jun 08, 2007 06:26pm | #2
Todd,

Take a look at the Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking Set. It is three books on "Joinery", "Shaping, Veneering, and Finishing", and "Furnituremaking". The set is $89.95 and includes a DVD. Great set, from a great teacher, someone who I long admired. This set is always at the top of my list.

Taunton offers many other great books, many of which are a compilation of their magazine articles on a given subject. These are great as it exposes you to many solutions for a given project. Certainly include Jewitt's book on finishing, and Hoadley's "Understanding Wood". All great books, an asset in an library.

Woody

mytulpa | Jun 08, 2007 06:32pm | #3
lee valley has an excellent selection of books and videos, check out their web site. also, why not take some of the budget to subscribe to the various magazines devoted to woodworking and boat building?

Sean2112 | Jun 09, 2007 03:41am | #4
Todd-

Tage Frid's first two volumes are an absolute must. If you assign no other books, both of these will aquaint your students with the foundations of tools and joinery. As far as tuning and sharpening hand tools (as well as other fine articles) David Charlesworth is a wonderful read. He has written two books (that I know of),"Furniture Making Techniques " volumes I and II. Really good stuff.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Sean
rporcaro | Jun 09, 2007 09:44am | #5
As a self-taught woodworker over many years, this question is dear to my heart.

For a beginner's woodworking class where you want to establish a small but solid library and the goal of the class is to point the students toward fine woodworking (as opposed to quickie nail-em-up projects), here are some books I suggest (all of this, I caution readers, is certainly IMHO). I've included only books that I either own and have used extensively or, in the case of numbers 1, 7, 8, and 12, that I've looked through thoroughly enough in the bookstore to be able to give an informed opinion.

1. Peter Korn's Woodworking Basics is a nice place to start learning the craft.

2. Understanding Wood by Bruce Hoadley is a must.

3. James Krenov's first three books were the ones that really set me on the path.

4. On the topic of finishing, which seems to create more anxiety that any other with woodworkers, Understanding Wood Finishing by Bob Flexner is hands down the best of them all.

5. Illustrated Cabinetmaking by the prolific author Bill Hylton ought to be better known than I think it is. I think it's the best book available to understanding furniture construction and design principles with many examples and project references.

6. Tage Frid's three book set covers a lot of ground. The Joinery book is, in my opinion, the only one that I like. It's like Ernest Scott's out-of-print Working in Wood which I've worn out a long time ago.

7. Jackson and Day's Complete Manual of Woodworking is a compact nice reference for most woodworking topics.

8. Many people like the classic Ernest Joyce Encyclopedia of Furnituremaking, updated by Alan Peters. I'm not a fan. It doesn't seem to discuss topics, eg joinery, in a way that would allow you to actually learn to do it.

9. Taunton, as we all know, has a million books. I especially like the series that has several books titled by Beds, Bookcases, Tables, etc. These have great projects to follow if that's what you want, but I like them to study different construction methods. Best of all are the introductory chapters which explain about bed construction, chest of drawers construction (Bill Hylton again), etc.

10. For sharpening, and you KNOW you need a book on this, Tom Lie-Nielsen's book from Taunton or Leonard Lee's book (a bit less current) are both good.

11. Machine maintainence: dead heat for three books: I have Mark Duginske's book. But those by John White and David Thiel look even better. I like David Thiel's style.

12. The Taunton series' three book set containing Joinery, Shaping, and Construction is nice to have. The authors' breadth of knowledge is phenomonal. However, I think the way the books are produced seems to leave out some clarity and detail in hands on procedure. Check em out, that's just how I see them. But they are excellent references in any case.

13. Popular Woodworking books have some very nice ones on jigs, shop setup, and shop tricks.

Have we spent the $1000 yet? Phew, I've gone on longer than I expected to but I hope this helps you out.

Rob

http://www.rpwoodwork.com

Edited 6/9/2007 5:08 pm ET by WWonthewww
shopteacher | Jun 09, 2007 01:46pm | #6
My vote - All of Roy Underhill's books ("The Woodwright's Shop, etc.).