We have opened pre-publication ordering for “The Woodworker’s Pocket Book,” which is currently at the printer and is expected to ship in March. This important reference book is $13 and is built to withstand daily use in a hand-tool shop.
This book has been a long-time coming, and I think you’ll be thrilled with the thing.
We also have just restocked on bandanas. These are green, feature a new design from Tom Bonamici and – most importantly – come from a new maker. One Feather Press in East Nashville cuts, sews, prints and washes these bandanas all by hand in a shed. And they are printed on both sides.
We love these bandanas. I think you will, too.
‘The Woodworker’s Pocket Book,’ edited by Charles H. Hayward
“The Woodworker’s Pocket Book” is small – just 4” x 6-1/2” – but it contains 112 pages of critical woodworking information for the hand-tool woodworker.
Edited by the great Charles H. Hayward and published in 1949, “The Woodworker’s Pocket Book” is a guide to everything from finishing recipes to drawing ellipses to choosing the correct screw or nail.
We own several versions of this book, as it was regularly updated and republished. After reading through all of the versions, we decided to reprint the original edition (with permission, of course). This edition is packed with drawings from Hayward and doesn’t deal much with the metric system, sharpening high-speed steel sawblades or pulley sizes for your machines. In other words, it’s for the woodworker who likes working by hand using fractions, inches and feet.
Also appealing to us is the small size of the book – it literally fits in your back pocket. We recommend keeping it in your tool chest or tool cabinet. It belongs in the shop and is more like a tool than a book.
To ensure the book’s long life, we made sure this book is designed for a shop environment. All our books’ signatures are sewn and taped for durability. We wrapped this one in high-density boards and picked a durable paper that improves on the original’s paper.
Like all our books, “The Woodworker’s Pocket Book” is printed in the United States.
You can read a complete index of the book’s contents here.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. I’m sorry there is no PDF of this book available. We were not able to acquire the electronic rights to the material.
Will this book eventually be available through Lee Valley?
Forgot to say that it looks like a great reference for the shop!!
We hope so! But that is their call, of course.
Hayward’s illustrations are always incredible. Is this book like a convenient distillation of The Woodworker: Hayward Years series books?
He’s also the only author I’ve encountered in my limited reading who suggests occasionally using a crosscut saw for ripping, and not the other way around. Not sure why.
Will this be made available in the U.K.?
I hope Classic Hand Tools will carry it, but that is their call, of course.
Awesome. Love the cover!
Thanks! I’m glad you like the cover. I love our skep logo and have wanted to use it for years.
It really is perfect.
The price for the book is a dealmaker!
i notice in the saw graphic that there is a Rip, a Cross cut and Panel saw. What is a Panel saw? Why have a third large saw if you already have one for cutting along and cutting across the grain? Puzzled in Canada. Thanks
A panel saw is shorter in length than a handsaw. They are typically used by cabinetmakers and joiners at the bench. Handsaws are generally used by carpenters on the jobsite. You can do the same work with either. It’s mostly a matter of the room you have in the shop and in your tool chest.
THanks. Does a panel saw typically have its teeth set as a rip or as a cross cut saw?
They can be either. Most ones that I have encountered in the wild are x-cut.
I just ordered this book. My father, a master carpenter, had a copy which I remember seeing as a kid. I loved it but somehow over the years it disappeared. I’m very much looking forward to its arrival.
You had hinted at a slipcase that could be mounted in a tool chest; is this still in he works?
We definitely hope to offer a slipcase that will attach to your chest or tool cabinet. We are waiting on a couple “dummy books” to be made that mimic the size of the finished product. The slipcase will be built around that.
And we have to find a company that is crazy enough to build it (we have a couple in mind). We hope to have the slipcase in production so people can add it to their order before the book ships.
But making stuff is hard.
Is 4″ x 6-1/2″ a fairly accurate measurement of the book’s size? I just started a Dutch tool chest build and would like to make sure I leave enough room for it when laying out the interior.
Any thoughts on this? I was thinking a leather strap on the back side of the fall front.
Hi Anthony,
I wish we knew exactly what the size of the book would be. Like woodworking, there are a lot of factors in play.
We are shooting for a book where its outside dimensions will be 3/8″ thick, 4-1/8″ wide and 6-3/4″ long. That includes the covers and spines and etc. The 4″ x 6-1/2″ is the paper size, FYI.
I’m very much interested in buying a copy, but since I live in The Netherlands, I suppose I better wait till Dictum (in Germany) is stocking it? And pre-ordering is not applicable, either?
Thanks in advance.
Jeroen,
I don’t know if Dictum will stock it. You might investigate a mail-forwarding service. Or wait to see if Lee Valley Tools stocks it. I suspect it will and Lee Valley sells internationally.
I just ordered my 2 books.. thanks
It sounds a little like the old Audel’s volume 3, tho much shorter and to the point for woodworkers. I look forward to having it in the tool chest. 🙂
Maybe get around the slip case manufacturing issue by coming up with a design for the purchasers of the book to manufacture themselves that they can get the plans for. I hear the readers and customers of this blog are pretty handy. Afraid I won’t be purchasing a copy myself as I have one courtesy of S. R. Barnard from Luton whom kept his edition, now mine, very spick and span except for the blackish stain smeared across Wood Finishing Recipes on page 1.