Book Recommendations

I Can Do That- 20 Beautiful and Easy Furniture Projects– by Chad Stanton  This book was designed for a woodworker with limited tools. However, these pieces don’t lack quality or beauty.   Click here

Illustrated Cabinet Making– by Bill Hylton Highly Recommended This book is a MUST HAVE! I reach for this book constantly. This book shows a wide range of joinery, furniture styles, various suggestions, and ideas for design. But most importantly it gives the common stand sizes and dimensions for furniture. A great source for reference. Click here

Measured Drawings of Shaker Furniture and Woodenware– by Ejner Handberg This book is not a “how-to” step by step book. But rather it has fully measured drawing with notes, tips, and suggestions for you to make your own classic Shaker-style pieces of furniture. Click here

Classic Arts and Craft Furniture 14 timeless designs– by Robert Lang. – The Arts and Craft movement had its time and place in England as well as America. And it still is a style that many people enjoy today. This book has not only step-by-step procedures but also measured drawings to help you build anyone of these classic pieces.  Click here

Shaping Wood– by Lonnie Bird– This book is 294 pages of precision ways to do complex molding, carvings, turning, and bendings shapes. If you enjoy period furniture or just want something to make your piece of furniture stand out, this book has tons of ways to do that. Click Here

How to design and Construct Period Furniture – by Franklin Gotshall  Highly Recommended This book has to be the best one to learn about period furniture. Extremely thorough and even gives a review questions at the end of each chapter. Click here 

Elementary Cabinetwork– by Frank Henry Seldon  This book was once used as a manual in high school shop classes in 1909. But don’t think it’s just for kids. This book teaches the fundamentals of good woodworking lessons and projects. Click Here

Old Ways of Working Wood– by Alex W. Bealer  A nice book showing ways of doing woodworking with just hand tools. Easy to read with charming hand-sketched drawings. Learn to chop down a tree all the way to using a treadle lathe. Click here

The Encyclopedia of Furniture– by Joseph Aronson  Highly Recommended An excellent resource for learning terms, styles, and giving inspiration about furniture. This book is packed with pictures and worth every penny. Click here

Early American Country Furniture– by Denis Hambucken  A wonderful easy to follow step by step book to make some simple classic country furniture. Wonderful photos and illustrations.  Click here

The Real Wood Bible– by Nick Gibbs  Great resource for selecting the correct wood for your next project. It shows 100 different woods with a beautiful up close picture, characteristics, and general information such as the strengths and weaknesses of each species. Click here

CNC Router Essentials– by Randy Johnson  If you are beginning in CNC woodworking or have some experience, this is a great book to get going and learning this new wave of the future. Click here

The Complete Guide to Chip Carving– by Wayne Barton  If computer carving is not your thing, this book is great to show you have to make beautiful carvings with just two simple knives. Click here

Dictionary of Tools– by R.A. Salaman  If you enjoy learning about tools from 1700-1970 this book has every tool ever listed. Click here

Chairmaking Simplified– Kerry Pierce This is a well-rounded book on different construction methods commonly used to make chairs, however, it’s mostly shaker style chairs Click here

Designing and Building Chairs– Taunton Press This book is a collection of different articles over the years from Fine Woodworking magazine featuring different woodworkers.  Click here

The Windsor Style in America– Charles Santore This is a book all about the windsor chair. There are hundreds of different windsor chair styles in this book. This book however is strictly about the origin and history of the chair and not a “how-to” building book. But I did really enjoy reading it. Click here

Practical Design solutions and strategies– Taunton Press  Highly Recommended This book is a collection of articles from Fine Woodworking. There are no actual projects or plans in this book, but it is chuck full of wonderful information to improve your woodworking skills. Click here

Tage Frid teaches Woodworking-Three step by step guidebooks to essential woodworking techniques –Tage Frid Highly Recommended This is an older book but a wonderful source of information. This was one of my very first books I bought. Click Here

Japanese Joinery (the complete)–Hartley & Marks The book is focused mostly on old-school methods of house framing, but the joinery can easily be scaled down to be used for furniture. Wonderful illustrations and tons of info.  Click here

the Art of Japanese Joinery– Kiyosi Seike This book has a lot of illustrations for different types of joinery, however, it does not do a good job in telling the step-by-step procedure. If yu are a beginner I would not recommend this book. But if you have some experience, you can look at the drawing and figure out the necessary steps. Click Here

Japanese Woodworking Tools– Toshio Odate Just as the title describes, this book explains all the different tools the Japanese use in their shop. It also explains the tradition of the tools and how they are different from Western-style tools. Interesting read. Click Here

English Historic Carpentry– Cecil A. Hewett  This book is all about the ancient building method of timber framing. If you enjoy architecture designs, then this is a good book for you. Click Here

From Tree to Table– Alan Garbers If you are into rustic furniture, this was a fun book. It’s rather simple and elementary, but I did enjoy it and I did pick up a tip or two. Click here

Make Your Own Woodworking Tools– Mike Burton Highly Recommended If you want to be a woodcarver but can’t afford the chisels this book shows you how to make your own from scraps of metal and make a forge with simple household items. It’s part blacksmithing part woodworking. Click here

Guide to Becoming a Professional Cabinetmaker– Jim Tolpin Highly Recommended If you ever wondered about building cabinets as a full-time profession then you must first read this book. Jim explains if you have what it takes to do it full time. He breaks down everything you need to know. Click here

Green Woodworking Drew Langsner– Working with green wood is very different from wood that is dry. But it can be enjoyable and fun to make something from branches off a tree. This book does a nice job explaining and understanding green wood and the simple tools used to make different projects. Click here

Making Classic Country Chairs– David Bryant– This book has step-by-step instructions, measured drawing, jigs, and technique tips, and has 14 different chairs you can build. Click here

Guide to Buying Antique Furniture– Rachael Field– Okay most of us would rather make furniture than buy it. But this book gives great details about identifying if the furniture is a real antique or a fake. Not an accurate book for pricing today’s antique furniture, but definitely can educate you. Click here

How to Build Shaker Furniture– Thos. Moser– This book is certainly old, but it still has very useful methods on how to build this classic, simple-looking furniture. Thos. Moser is a renowned furniture maker. Full of good techniques Click Here

 Classic Carving Patterns – Lora Irish– This book is exactly what it says. It’s not a step-by-step how-to carve book. It has a large variety of different patterns from line designs, triangles, circular and more. It’s a great book for getting ideas to design your own patterns. Click here 

 Norwegian Woodcarving Textbook– Odd Fauske- I absolutely love this book. Again it is not a how-to carve book, even though it’s called a textbook. This book is loaded with all kinds of patterns that are classic of the Norwegian style.

  The Anatomy of Viking Art– Jonas Lau Markussen– Originally I bought this book hoping for a lot of art patterns. It does have some. But it’s largely a history book and a breakdown of the different changes over the years of the Viking patterns and style. Click here

A Glossary of Wood– Thomas Corkhill– This book is more like a dictionary of woodworking and timber framing terms and tools. A good resource for understanding specific words and or tools. Click here

Ancient Carpenters Tools– Henry C. Mercer– If you are interested in old tools before electricity was around, this book is an interesting read. Click here

 Building Doors and Drawers– Andy Rae– It’s fair to say most furniture projects have either a door or drawer on them. This book shows you a wide variety of methods to get the look and feel right for your project. Click here

  The Why & How of Woodworking– Michael Pekovich– This book touches on a little bit of everything. From design to technique. It has projects in it that have an Asian style influence to it. A very nice book. Click here

 Diary of an Early American Boy– Eric Sloane- This book documents what life was like back in 1805. Full of wonderful drawings and an interesting read. Click here

Wood Craft Culture, History – Harvey Green– This is not a how-to book or one of drawing and plans. This book simply talks about wood and our appreciation for it. It gives the history and geography of wood and the projects they have been used for throughout history. Click here

Workbenches and Shop Storage Solutions– Fox Chapel– The title says it all. Make a bench or add to your existing one. The book is full of ideas for your shop. Click here  

Acanthus Carving and Design– Bob Yorburg– I like this book because it not only shows you how to carve but how to draw your designs.  This book has plenty of step-by-step photos as well as many reference photos. Click here

A History of Wood Engraving– Douglas Percy Bliss– This is not a how-to book but a history book. It takes you back in time to some of the earliest wood carvings ever made. Click here

 Builder’s Apprentice– Andrew Hoffman– This is a true story of an engineer who quit his desk job to become a carpenter’s apprentice. Not only did he learn new skills but he learned to have satisfaction and peace in his life. Click here

 Woodland Craft Handbook– Ben Law– This book is interesting if you want to walk into the woods and bring back some green sticks to make projects from. Simple and fun projects that anyone can make.  Click here

 Made By Hand, furniture projects from the unplugged woodshop– Tom Fidgen– This book covers the basics of hand tools and projects that you can make. Very nice pictures and good layout in this book. Click here

 The Wright Style– Carla Lind– Highly recommended -This is not technically a woodworking book. But I use it as a great source of inspiration. If you like Arts & Craft style furniture then Frank Lloyd Wright was a master at it. This book is full of furniture, architecture, glass, and stone designs to give you great ideas. Click here

Newly Listed American Bungalow Style– Robert Winter– This book is filled with Arts & Craft style furniture, room decor, and homes. It’s not a how-to book, but it’s packed with pictures that inspire me to design furniture. Click here

Newly Listed Chairmaker’s Workshop– Drew Langsner–  Highly Recommended– This is a wonderful book. It gives you everything from setting up shop, how-to make, plans and dimensions and so many varieties and styles of chairs. Click here