What is your favourite woodworking book?

What woodworking book is your favourite? The book that you refer to the most?

Mine is "Woodwork In Theory and Practice" by John Walton it was first published in 1947, my grandfather who was a woodwork teacher gave it to me on my 12th birthday (I think he may have nicked it from a class set) I refer to it regularly and in retrospect I think it was this book that started my interest in the craft.

Probably not the answer you're looking for however I've found that 'google' has most of the answers. I'm not really a book person however I have piles of magazines. Therefore the latest edition of UK Woodturning usually not far away.

Hi Phil,
I tend to lean towards, Richard Raffan's " Turning Wood ".
However I do like all of his books, although not much of a reader, but I really like Photos & the way he does his work.
If it is good enough & works for Richard Raffan, then it is good enough for Me.

..."Art and fear"...(obsevations on the perils and rewards of artmaking)
...a must IMO for adventurous woodcrafters

New

New masters of the wooden box
A really nice read excellent pictures
Great coffee table book

I have many, many wonderful woodworking, turning, carving and design books/videos, but the book that fixed all my problems was "A Polishers Handbook" by Neil Ellis from ubeaut.

My finishing was always a bit of a disappointment to me, even after almost 50 years of hobby and full time woodworking. Passable to good, but not what I would have really liked. Nine years ago I got That Book. Since then I have been very satisfied that my finishes are the best they can possibly be.

Should be in every woodworkers library.

Darky :firedevil:

I've got a few books on the bookshelf and google a lot, but the only 2 books in my workshop are Walton, because it tells me what I need to know about setting out dimesions for just about any western style joint I've wanted to use; and The Essential Woodworker by Robert Wearing because it tutors me in the techniques to cut most of those joints.

"The Impractical Cabinetmaker" My fav by a mile. Changed the way i work with wood.

The Impractical Cabinetmaker was very influential for me also. It changed the way I see furniture, not just when constructing something myself, but assessing anything else I look at.

Made me think. It all depends on what you're doing.
Australian books by C.Lloyd and Lloyd and Cowmeadow were aimed at apprentices.
Anything by Charles Hayward and that includes the English Woodworker magazine when he was editor.
Michael Dunbar's Woodturning for Cabinet Makers.
Cheers,
Jim

The complete woodworker by Bernard E Jones. Published sometime in the 1920s or 30s I think, but the methods are still very much current for anyone who works with hand tools.

the next one... :)