The New Traditional Woodworker: From Tool Set to Skill Set to Mind Set (Popular Woodworking)

For those of us who would rather not put up with the noise and mess of power tools (or expense), this is the best book I've found for someone interested in woodworking with hand tools. Although it is oriented towards furniture making, but the skills used in that are easily transfered to rougher carpentry. About the only complaint I have about this book is that it's not long enough. I would have liked to see more details and further information about hand woodworking techniques (but there are other books that cover those things well). Like other Jim Tolpin books, this one is full of excellent color photos and loaded with relevant information written in a easily readable, straightforward style. You get theory and practical advice on tool and material selection, and a number of practical projects to get started on building hand woodworking skills and knowledge. The only thing better would be to attend the school Mr. Tolpin teaches at, but for those of use with limited recourses or time, this is a good start. Highly recommended.

Imagine a woodshop filled with 10 or 11 people planing, sawing, & squaring lumber, routing dados & grooves and producing all kinds of layout tools based on the wood workers own physical size. One would think that it would be a noisy, dusty, & fairly dangerous environment. But no, one can converse with others without shouting...no need for respirator or dust mask. Hearing protection is not needed. Your digits stay attached to you extremities. This book discribes how that is possible. I just attended a week long class from Mr. Tolpin called "Hand Tool Heaven." The class is based on this book The New Traditional Woodworker. It was amazing. Techniques are presented showing how to tune, sharpen & use hand tools as they were operated in the preindustrial era. Skills are taught and then developed by the making of tools, jigs, fixtures and other projects. The book is well researched and presented. Directions are easy to follow. Develop a new mind set. Learn how to work wood, not machine it. I highly recommend this book. In fact I now have some machines for sale if any one is interested. Ryc Williamson Aloha, Oregon

Really good book with lots of useful shop projects. Pictures are good quality and add to the text. Instructions are well detailed. The only problem I had was that the author assumes the reader has a lot of tools already and most of the time he doesn’t offer alternatives; this can make it hard for a beginner to figure out how to achieve a task without having the same set of tools the author has.

I know I spent at least 5 hours trolling the internet for a suitable birthday present for my boyfriend and no present from me is complete without a book =] He is an amazing woodworker but we've recently moved and have no room for power tools and such so he decided to do everything by hand. he has a variety of saws but only a smooth plane and from a "sneak peek" in the book i found that a set of 4 hand planes is recommended so I also bought him a jack plane to really kick off his collection. anyway, the book not only tells you what you need but how to use it properly but how to keep it in great working order. for instance, I didn't know a metal hand plane had to be well oiled when you're using it but wooden ones do not. It's in full color, very well-written and definitely worth the bang for your buck. Even for a girl like me who is afraid of every machine but the scroll saw it was very informative and motivating. I definitely recommend it.

This book isn't written for someone who is new to woodworking (like me). The book is written by a very experienced woodworker who very self consciously decided to swear off the majority of his power tools and to focus on hand tools. The author is self congratulatory, trying to the case on every page for why becoming a "traditional woodworker" after having spent years making a living using power tool, but even he at times admits not only to still using power tools for some tasks but admitting that it can be quicker and easier. The author makes the assumption that you know a bit about woodworking already. IF you don't know the difference between a mortise and a tenon, nor realize that a dovetail is something other than the feathers sticking out from behind a bird, then you will have a hard time following the author at times. The book definitely could have benefited from a glossary. There are also numerous typos that I can spot, and I'm sure a lot more that better versed than I am in the language of wood working. The inclusion of hand drawn diagrams is aesthetically pleasing, but it would be a lot easier to build the projects in the book if the plans were drawn more precisely and included materials lists. All of this said, the book is filled with useful information and lots of good pictures. If you already have a power tool set and know how to use it, this book might indeed change your mind set. For those of us who have never used a table saw probably and were never inclined to use one for fear of cutting our fingers off, this book will prove more befuddling than convincing.

I'm new to woodworking with hand tools. Most of my education to this point has been from "Youtube" videos; some are quite good. However this read answered many questions I had; the reason behind doing certain tasks and using the right tool for the job. I also learned why I couldn't saw a straight line and a trick to improve my accuracy. Tolpin leads you through building helpful tools and builds upon learned skills along the way. I enjoyed the insights into using hand tools instead of power tools (or most of them). A good read for those starting out to primarily use hand tools.

si impara sempre di piu' veramente interessante consigliato a tutti quelli che vogliono cimentarsi nelle lavorazioni del legno con attrezzi manuali

very good

Very informative book for the ones, that dont know anything about woodworking. Explains even the noobiest questions.... and best is, if your table wobbles, you can put the book underneath one leg and you have a stable table. Or you can try rotating the table and find a stable position ...

Given as a present, the recipient was very pleased.

Great book, good value for the price