The Complete Ultimate Essential Best woodworking authors?

[Tasky]

Heya, me again.

I've been looking around at various books, Kindles, online blogs, YouTube vids, and of course the downloads thread on here, seeing what I can pick up that may be of interest as I find my way.
The books/Kindles are a bit of a struggling point as, without buying them all, I don't know which are most likely to be as comprehensive as suggested by their typical titles of "Ultimate", "Essential" and "Complete"...

I'm mostly interested in cabinets, chests and small boxes at this point.

I understand good starting points would be:
The Essential Woodworker by Bob Wearing
Paul Sellers and Rob Cosman videos.

Are there any other resources in particular that people would suggest?
Clear pictures and diagrams a bonus...

 

[AndyT]

I suggest you start by borrowing all the woodworking books in your local library. You'll get to read a variety of different authors, under no obligation, at no cost. If you find someone whose work suits you, you can buy your own copy.

Nobody covers everything and although the general formula gets repetitive ("these are the tools, these are the joints, here are some projects") everyone has their own slant on it.

One recent title which looks good (and comes from a proper professional teacher) is from Chris Tribe - see here:

topic102234.html

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Chris Tribe, Complete Woodworking is great. Not gimmicky or preachy like Sellers can be, not reliant on selling or using boutique tools like Cosman and more modern than Wearing. I think it is the best primer for beginners/intermediate woodworkers, written by a fine craftsman and excellent teacher. If I were to only have one book, it would be this (excepting that I'm not a beginner!)

Mike.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Sorry, double submission.

Mike.

 

[boardgamer]

I have about 20 woodworking books sitting on the floor next to me, just waiting to be listed in the For Sale section of this site. Give me a few days.....

 

[Phil Pascoe]

http://www.waterstonesmarketplace.com/T ... matches=34

is good.

 

[custard]

I agree with the Chris Tribe recommendation, a smashing book.

Although there's a lot to be said for nominating one single source as your primary mentor. Different people have different approaches, and even though they work as a complete package they often don't work so well on a mix and match basis. In that case you'd really want someone who has comprehensive video instruction as well as written word, and someone who takes you through the entire process of basic woodworking. The person who best fills that role is probably Paul Sellers, his style is a bit preachy and his designs are tired relics from the 1970's, but he will take you by the hand (as opposed to by the wallet) and tell you everything you need to assemble a good value, properly functioning tool kit and produce basic furniture.

After you've been at it a few years you may want to move on to David Charlesworth. His three books are based on his magazine articles, so they don't flow as tidily as a written book, but he gets into stuff that you simply won't find anywhere else.

If you can possibly manage it then face to face training trumps everything else. Even if it's just a one or two week starter course that gets you safely past the tool sharpening, plane fettling, squaring timber rabbit holes.

Good luck!

 

[dzj]

+1 for a 101 course with someone.
At the entry level, most any beginner book will do. There's no 'magic bullet'.
Depends really what kind of WW you want to do. Some cabinets anyone with DIY skills can make,
without ever reading any WW books.

 

[morturn]

Peter Sefton is a master craftsman who is extremely knowledgeable and practical, he runs his own furniture school and has recently launched some woodworking videos. I have been watching some of them this last few days and must say that they are remarkably well made.

In the videos I have seen, he covers wood section and purchase, hand plane selection, sharpening and hand plane use. To me, this is the ideal starting point to develop your skills. Without decent materials, and well-maintained tools, you will always find it hard to produce consistent quality in your woodwork.

There are a lot of woodworking resources out there, all of them tend to focus on expanding knowledge or product placement. What I like about Peters videos is that they improve your understanding of the materials and the tools, enabling you as a woodworker to make rational and subjective decisions about your craft based on years of practical experience.

 

[ED65]

+10 from me on the Andy's suggestion of hitting the libraries Tasky.

If you're lucky you'll have a surprising number of woodworking books on the shelves in the local branches and there could be any number of others available from inter-library loans, giving a potential reading pool of quite some size. Between the city and county libraries where I am I've been able to borrow more than 30 books of various vintages, and the reference sections have a few older books that are rare enough to be unobtainable by any other means.

Obviously by getting to read things for free you get to avoid some buying disappointments. Good reviews notwithstanding it's important to read through things for yourself because many a popular book might not be to your liking. It could be that it's not be as in-depth as you'd like (most sharpening sections will leave you wanting more I can promise you!), doesn't cover one subject in a way you agree with from previous reading (that's me with planing advice in most books, including a few that are otherwise excellent), or the writing style grates. My library reads over the past three or four years have included more than a handful of books that would have left me grossly disappointed had I forked out much for them.

And by reading multiple sources you'll be exposed to a range of approaches which you can try for yourself and see which you prefer; often there isn't one good way to do something but two, or more, equally good ways. Take tails or pins first in dovetailing, because there are equally good arguments in favour of both it boils down to which suits you better. Few, if any, individual books you'll find will show both approaches and argue their respective merits equally.

 

[Ttrees]

Hello Tasky
Here is a link to some youtube folks that will keep you going
I put in most of my favorite folks which is related to fine woodworking, boxes fine furniture and the like.
topic103482.html
Have fun
Tom

 

[worn thumbs]

Charles Hayward covers most topics,but you may have to look in second hand bookshops.

 

[Racers]

I think you need George Nakashima, Toshio odate and some James Krenov just for inspiration rather than how to.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soul-Tree-Mast ... 1568363958

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Japanese-Woodw ... shio+odate

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cabinetmakers- ... mes+krenov

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss ... 97P9SJYXG7

Pete

 

[thetyreman]

I'd recommend 'working with wood 1 & 2' by Sellers, but only if you actually build everything in the book, that's the whole point of it, it's great for getting stuck into actual projects and repeating them until you have perfected the techniques, you can do everything in the book with a pretty minimal hand tool based setup for not much money.

 

[Tasky]

Much obliged to you all!!

Mainly, I've found the reviews slate a book for not including some fundamental technique or other, such as "The Three Basic Joints" when there are four, or something like that.
Obviously I won't get every possible technique with every possible way of applying it, but at this point I just want to be sure I cover the basic fundamentals, really.