Traditional Woodworking Handtools: A Manual for the Woodworker

Graham Blackburn's new encyclopedia covers every aspect of choosing, rehabilitating, and getting the most out of traditional handtools for woodworking. In this age of machines, handtools remain the best way, and are often the only way, of creating beautiful details, perfect fit, and final finish. Handtools liberate the furnituremaker, builder, and general woodworker from the limited artistic vocabulary of machinery. With handtools, there are no technical limits.

Traditional Woodworking Handtools explains how to set up and use each tool, and puts the tool in the context of the complete woodworking process. Blackburn includes interesting historical information as well as telling anecdotes drawn from his forty-year career at the bench. Readers will come away with not only the knowledge they need to improve their own woodworking, but also a deeper appreciation of their craft and its role in the construction of civilization. (81/2 X 11, 384 pages, illustrations, diagrams)