recommended reading list

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lurker

Le dullard de la commune
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Following on from something Scrit said on another thread, can we have a list of recommended books?

I rarely buy books but my county library is great
There is a rubbish selection on the shelf in my town library but they have an online database and somewhere in the county everything I've asked for, seems to exist.

I go on line (from my office desk), search for the book, enter a pin number and ask it to be delivered to my town library - usually takes about 2 days.

I then have three weeks to read & copy the best bits
 
Hi Lurker

We've sort of done this before from time to time, but I'll give you what I consider to be a few worthwhile books to get the ball rolling (all of these are on my shelf in front of the PC):

1. Joinery & Carpentry
--------------------------

"Carpentry & Joinery" by Brian Porter publ. Butterworth-Heinemann

Three part publication (i.e. there are books 1 to 3) dealing with all aspects of City & Guilds CGLI 585 Carpentry and Joinery (in other words the trade course)

"Carpentry & Joinery" (2nd Edition) by Peter Brett publ. Nelson-Thornes

Two part publication (i.e. there are books 1 to 2) dealing with all aspects of NVQ 2 and 3 in Carpentry and Joinery (in other words the trade course). These two books ara analageous to the Porter books and contain much of the same information. I finfd Brett to be much better on Building Regs stuff, though.

"Manual of First and Second Fixing Carpentry" by Les Goring publ. Butterworth-Heinemann

Want to undestand how to install doors, frames, casings, etc. also how to fit windows, floors, roofs, staircases and much more then this is the book to get. No how to make stuff at all, but plenty of how to install properly

2. Furniture Making
----------------------

"The Technique of Furniture Making" by Ernest Joyce publ. Batsford

A tome still used for teaching furniture crafts at C&G and higher levels. A bit sketchy in parts but nonetheless still about the best book of its type published in the UK

"The Woodworker's Bible" by Alf Martensson publ. Pitman (1982)

Now out of print, so you'll need to find a second-hand copy. Martensson covers a huge amount of ground in just 288 pages from tools to finishing with almost everything in between nand with some superb examples of design by people such as Alan Peters, Martion Grierson and John Makepiece. A bit light in some areas, but with some useful insights into how to do things with just basic equipment (including a home-made table saw). A lot of the machine usage stuff is out of date and some practices are now proscribed, but nonetheless an excellent read (my own copy is very dog eared!). Good enough to have been recommended by both Mr Grimsdale (Jacob) and Dom Valante

3. Specialist Skills
---------------------

"The Complete Manual of Wood Veneering" by W. A. Lincoln publ. Stobart-Davies

An excellent work on the subject of veneering and other forms of decorative work. A bit sketchy on hammer veneering and modern vacuum bag vaneering (for which I'd actually recommend taking a look at the Joe Woodworker web site.)

4. Finishing
-------------

"The Complete Manual of Wood Finishing" by Frederick Oughton publ. Stobart-Davies

Another classic work and one used for C&G and higher levels

"Spray Finishing" by Andy Charron publ. Taunton Press

Probably the only book on spraying to have been written from the perspective of a wood finisher as opposed to a car spraysr (and they are different). Lots of information on use of LPHV, too, although possibly not the most up to date of texts as regards materials.

5. Timber Recognition & Technical
---------------------------------------

"World Woods in Colour" by W. A Lincoln publ. Stobart-Davies

Another standard text, this one on timbers of the world. If you're serious about woodworking then you'll need this on your bookshelf

"Understanding Wood" by Prof. Bruce Hoadley publ. Taunton Press

If you want to understand why and how wood moves in response to it's environment then this book is a must, although it is quite turgid in places. A standard text for anyone taling a higher qualification in furniture making

6. Wood Machining
---------------------

"Machine Woodworking technology for Hand Woodworkers" by F.E. Sherlock publ. Stobart-Davies

Another standard text for teaching safe wood machining practices. However, as with all things in a fast changing field it is advisable to read the book in one hand and have the current data sheets from the HSE to hand in the other (found here) as books can go out of date quite quickly

Anyone who has been through college in the last 10 years will probably recognise these titles as forming the basis of a training library. There are many other books, but all of these I'd recommend as ways of learning how to do the job properly


PS For anyone interested I find the best supplier of wood technical books to be:

Stobart-Davies Ltd
Stobart House
Pontyclerc
Penybanc Road
Ammanford
Carmarthenshire
SA18 3HP

Tel: 01269 593100
Fax: 01269 596116

Email: [email protected]

No affiliation other than having been a customer for nearly 30 years. I used to spend many a happy lunchtime in their stockroom in the days when they were based in Worship Street on the edge of the City of London - and on occassion I even bought a book or two :wink:

Regards

Scrit

Edit: Added in Andy Charron's book on spraying and Alf Martennson's book after prompting
 
Thanks Scrit, thats a quality list!

I would also like to add some that i've gathered a lot of information from:

David Charlesworth's Vol1 & Vol2 - both excellent.
All of Krenov's books, - not so much a how to, but a why to, I found a lot of inspiration from these, and it's changed my whole approach to the subject. I got mine quite cheaply from ebay and amazon marketplace sellers.
 
Krenov (all of them) for the spirit - changed my whole approach 20 years ago and re-started my interest in cabinetmaking.

David Charlesworth for the techniques and detail

Joyce's Furniture Making for reference

Best of Fine woodworking various volumes for inspiration

Personally I find Sterling good on range but very poor on presentation and quality.
 
Hi Scrit

cracking list - Would add the following from Stobart Davies though

Modern Practical Joinery - George Ellis reprint of 1903 classic - details good just don't use the bit on machining!

Purpose-made joinery - E V Foad good chapters on Marking out, Rods (seen that in locked thread - gave me some fun reading), cutting lists and workshop geometry.

Duncan

PS still have the manuals and parts list for the luna if you would like them for your collection
 
Great!!! Book recomendations! :D

I have 'Techniques of furniture making' by Joyce, I picked it out myself with no recommendation!, was very happy with it, a fantastic book!

I have ordered
"Manual of First and Second Fixing Carpentry" by Les Goring
from the Book Depository a few minutes ago, can't wait to get it, 2nd edition published in March 2007. It cost £20.23 with free delivery to Ireland.

I looked at
"World Woods in Colour" by W. A Lincoln
but it has a bad review from one contributor on Amazon, he may be a muppet though so I'm undecided. Scrit says it's good so it must be... it's available for £20.15 with free delivery from the Book Depository. I have less use for it so I'm holding off on this one for a while... it's one for the future.

Only a few days ago I bought
'Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets' by Jim Tolpin
for £10.10 including delivery, I will let people know what it's like when it gets here. Does anyone know it?
link....
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/WEBSITE/WWW/WEBPAGES/showbook.php?id=1561587974

I am also considering getting
'Trim Carpentry and Built-ins (Build Like a Pro) (Build Like a Pro)' by Clayton DeKorne
£10.10 includes delivery from the same place as above... does anyone know this book? Is it any good? I am self taught and am quite weak in the area of fitting and trims! :shock:


Does anyone have any recommendations for books helping with fitted furniture and built ins?

Also books describing styles.. i.e Shaker style etc... with pictures...

And finally picture books showing high quality photographs of furniture that could be shown to clients...

Cheers
Joe[/url]
 
What about books on turning guys? I have Keith Rowley's Foundation Course....Any others that are worth looking out for?

Pete
 
Joe90":3uqt3yo1 said:
I looked at
"World Woods in Colour" by W. A Lincoln
but it has a bad review from one contributor on Amazon, he may be a muppet though so I'm undecided. Scrit says it's good so it must be...
OK, maybe we should ask the pros on here how many of them have this book and what they think. In my experience almost all the canbinetmakers I know have a copy somewhere. Dom? Chris? Senior? Nick? What do you think? There was one even better book I had years back by the TNO in the Netherlands, unfortunately it's no longer available and in any case it's only in Dutch.....

Joe90":3uqt3yo1 said:
Only a few days ago I bought
'Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets' by Jim Tolpin
for £10.10 including delivery, I will let people know what it's like when it gets here. Does anyone know it?
Yes. Good book. Used by the KBSA as part of their kitchen maker/fitter training. Personally I think it could benefit from a bit more attention to the 32mm System used in European work than it has and you have to watch out for the standard dimensions being American not European - not a problem with Belfasts and granite tops bit potentially one if you're using laminate tops and standard appliances.

Scrit
 
Hi

Scrit, I have huge respect for your judgement, knowledge and experience, I would buy a book based solely on your recommendation even if there were 100 negative reviews... (sorry if I've embarrassed you.. he he, :oops: ). I instantly bought the 'First and Second Fix....' book solely on the recommendation.
I did read the reviews to get a feel for it however, I really think it'll be great for me!

Mainly I didn't buy the particular book, "World Woods in Colour", tonight because I have 4 books on the way which I have ordered in the last few days... I am snowed under in books at the moment! :D .. (only two woodworking books, two on other subjects, Richard Dawkins, Feynman -- physics etc..). The Book Depository will be opening a branch in my house next! :D

"World Woods in Colour" by W. A Lincoln is definitely on my list to buy... most likely it'll be my next book. I'll also get "The Complete Manual of Wood Finishing" by Frederick Oughton as I need a good book on finishing.

Cheers
Joe
 
Scrit wrote:

OK, maybe we should ask the pros on here how many of them have this book and what they think.

Yes excellent book (World Woods), that along with Joyce and The Woodworkers Bible are excellent references

Dom
 
Hi

'The Complete Manual of Wood Finishing' is on the way... £13.02 includes delivery from The Book Depository. Many thanks for the recommendation, much appreciated.

Cheers
Joe
 
DomValente":k9789oh0 said:
......along with Joyce and The Woodworkers Bible are excellent references
Thanks for reminding me, Dom, "The Bible" is another of those books on my bookshelf, and well thumbed at that. Mr G had some positive things to say about it recently as well.

I've also added Andy Charron's book on sporay finishing as that's a useful book, too

Scrit
 
Hi

Surprisingly 'Woodworker's Bible' by Alf Martensson seems to be available from The Book Depository. It is by a different publisher and with a different publish date. Very reasonable at £11.28.

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/WEBSITE ... 0713626852

ISBN-10: 0713626852
ISBN-13: 9780713626858
Format: Paperback
Page Number: 288
Publisher: A & C Black Publishers Ltd
Publish Date: 1985-02-28

Cheers
Joe
 
Let's not forget the growing number of 'real books' available on-line. The galoots at the OldToolsShop website have done a good job of finding 'full view' books digitised by Google and have a useful range of others too. I especially enjoyed their scanned copy of 'How to make woodwork tools' by Charles Hayward.

I'd also recommend searching charity shops for some of the books published just after WW2. Often from Odhams press, with various titles on the theme of 'the home workshop'. These often have good descriptions of hand tool ways of working, as well as great photos of gents in natty suits getting down to a bit of sawing in the shed.

Andy
 
I value Lincoln's book greatly as a pretty comprehensive if rather dry treatment of its subject matter. The photos are pretty good guides to the wood - unlike some publications where they can look totally different from the wood you've just bought and now doubt it's the same thing. It covers lots of woods including many you are never likely to encounter (Celery Top Pine anyone?).

A recent and more general book on wood and wood based materials is Rick Peters "Woodworkers Guide to Wood" which I think might be well suited to a beginner in woodwork.
 
Scrit,
No I don't have that one (it is however now on my Amazon wish list) but do have
100 Woods, Peter Bishop, Crowood
The Wood Handbook, Nick Gibbs, Apple
The Wood Book,, Taschen
If I could only have one of them then I think Gibbs would get my vote

I'd really love to own an original copy of the last one as it didn't have printed plates, but real veneers in transverse, radial and tangential section for each timber! However the Taschen reprint is pretty good, and comes in a plywood box, for what that's worth.

The books I turn to time and time again are:
The Woodworker's Guide to Furniture Design, Garth Graves, Stobart Davies
Practical Design Solutions and Strategies, Fine Woodworking, Taunton.

Taunton has recently published their Building Furniture 2007 compilation which is a good collection of design options articles, though if you have any of their other books, or have a collection of FWWs then you will have seen most of the articles before, but I think it's good to have them collected in one place.

I also like Taunton's Complete Illustrated guide to ... series, with the one exception of Period Furniture Details, which is a cut down version of Shaping Wood. Buy the latter, forget the former.

Krenov is good of course, but don't let's forget Tage Frid's trilogy, now available in one box with a DVD I believe, though his design style looks a little dated these days.

I tried reading David Pye's pair of books, but found his writing style too turgid, and haven't managed to finish the second volume.

Looking along my bookshelf there are an awful lot of Taunton books, and I have to say that they do seem to be good at not producing duds. The Guild of Master Craftsmen (spit) are almost as good at producing gooduns; that they are British helps balance the fact that they are the GoMC.

I guess that the preponderance of How To books in my collection is a reflection of my self-taught status.
 
One of the essentials IMO but no longer in print, so a rummage round 2nd hand book shops is required, is the Alan Peter's book...'Cabinet Making, the Professional Approach'. A must have read - Rob
 
woodbloke":hr1p5h34 said:
One of the essentials IMO but no longer in print, so a rummage round 2nd hand book shops is required, is the Alan Peter's book...'Cabinet Making, the Professional Approach'. A must have read -

I second that. Just finished reading it - one of the best books I've ever read. If you have any thoughts about doing cabinet making as a career, read this book first :wink:

Cheers :wink:

Paul
 
This is one that I'm sure Philly and Alf have.In my opinion it is one of the

best resources for collectors and restorers of old planes and other tools.

The only down side

is the fact that it is published in the States ,but if you want to know how to

fettle planes and sharpen blades and refile saw teeth then this is for you.

Restoring,Tuning and Using Classic Woodworking Tools by Michael Dunbar

published by Sterling Publishing Co , Inc New York and Cassell PLC

London.ISBN number 0-8069-6670-X

Cheers John :lol:
 
If a woodworker knew everything there is to be found in the Evans Publisher's Woodworking series, (Many written and illustrated by Charles H Hayward), then said worker might well be happy with the level of skill possessed. It's all in there. Mostly the only things that have changed are some of the tools and the fact that we don't need to wear waist-coats, detachable collars and ties; unless we want to.

I found Chris Schwarz's book on the Workbench to be a great modern read and it pushes the boundaries in the woodworkers' study of workbenches.

:D
 

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