Ever since I encountered an original copy of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker,” I have been a little obsessed with little books.
These small folios – roughly 4” x 6-1/2” – can fit into your pocket. And when properly written, they are filled with ideas that can change your life. In 2020, we reissued “The Woodworker’s Pocket Book,” which is a gold mine of information on the craft, from finishing recipes to nails to identifying hardware and understanding furniture styles.
We’ve sold more than 20,000 copies of this book in the last two years. And in the spirit of this small but mighty book, we are working on two more pocket books that we hope will blow your mind (but not your wallet).
The first is a book called “Sharpen This.” It’s a book that woodworker Tim Henriksen told me 10 years ago that I should write. It’s a no-nonsense 120-page treatise on grinding, honing and polishing edges. It is what woodworkers need to know to get great edges regardless of the sharpening system they use. It’s the kind of instruction I got in 1993 when I learned to sharpen. Before the internet.
If you are a great sharpener, you probably don’t need this book. But your daughter or nephew might. In any case, it was huge fun to boil down everything I know about sharpening into 120 compact pages, plus 50 photos and hand-drawn illustrations. Every word in this book counts.
The third title in this series is a book that I cannot believe has never been written: “Workshop Wound Care” by Dr. Jeffrey Hill. If you think there is a lot of disinformation out there about sharpening and finishing, then wait until you cut yourself.
The first aid industry has filled our minds and shelves with products that we don’t really need. Including some that are less than helpful. Dr. Hill is an emergency room physician and a woodworker who cuts through the misinformation with a scalpel.
As Megan and I read his text we were shocked by all the things we were doing to treat wounds that were unnecessary or (worse) counter-productive. This is a book that I have personally longed for in our craft. You might think “Meh, I don’t need this. I can take care of my scratches.”
But if you take an afternoon to read it, you will most certainly become better at treating your scrapes, contusions and what-nots. And you will likely have a better outcome, which is where you are back to woodworking much faster.
These two new books will both be the same size and have the same high-quality manufacturing as “The Woodworker’s Pocket Book.” And they will be reasonably priced – about $16-$18. Look for “Sharpen This” in the fall and “Workshop Wound Care” soon after that.
And we have a couple more pocket books in the works for 2023.
— Christopher Schwarz
Wouldn’t it be better to print the first aid book first, then the sharpening book? I’d hate to bleed out after testing a sharp edge because I didn’t know how to treat the cut! Lol!
Great book ideas!!
Haha. Probably correct.
Workshop Wound Care sounds, as you say, like something it’s hard to imagine has not already been written. What a clever and necessary book. I bet it sells out right away.
“Meh, I don’t need this. I can take care of my scratches.”
True, but you could also use the book to become the shop nurse (and help others mend their scratches).
Love it love it love it! I get these books and almost all the other books from LAP because there’s a ton of knowledge in them and the books are always well made which is important because I intend to hand them down to my children and grandchildren! And who doesn’t love pocket sized books??!!
These all sound great. Very pleasant surprises.
John lives! We were worried.
Wrecked a knee. They wouldn’t let me watch the surgery because they knew I’d do the next one.
Oh god. That’s rough news. I wish you full recovery and quick healing. Did that a few years ago and it ain’t fun.
John, I love that, man! That is badass!
As I read this, here’s what my brain said: “Christopher Schwarz sharpening book. Yay! I don’t think I need a wound care book.” Then I looked at the inch-long scar on the back of my thumb I got when installing a joiner blade twenty years ago. So I guess they’re both on the to-buy list. I hope you’ll do the free PDF with pre-order deal you’ve done in the past. I love having both formats.
That is the plan! We love printed books. But we also love having all our books on a laptop/pad where they can be searched.
While we wait for the first aid book, maybe a blog post to list some of the counter productive things we do.
Great topics, great format. Love your books!
Will be watching for them.
Any thoughts of squeezing how to set up and maintain the basic tools found in most shops? One hundred twenty pages that cover both hand tools (hand planes, saws, etc. and machine tools (table and band saws, jointers, planers, drill presses, and router/tables) could potentially become a legacy reference guide.
I love small, affordable books that contain lots of useful information. I bought a second copy of the Woodworker’s Pocket Book for my son, so he wouldn’t have to wait to inherit mine. The new topics sound good.
I’ll certainly be ordering both! so glad you are turning your “sharpen this” series into a book. anytime someone has the slightest interest in learning more about sharpening, i send them to the whole series. i hope you will include a guide to free-hand sharpening as well as tips for setting up a station and/or streamlining the process so it goes as fast as possible. for example: i landed on diamond stones, strop, and free-hand because the entire homing process takes far less time than when i used water stones or paper (vomit) not because diamonds cut any faster but because i save time fiddling with setting up a jig, soaking and cleaning up the mess from my stones. hence, i bet i get back to work in half the time or more especially since as a hobbyist i rarely get more than 60minutes in the shop on any given day.
That’s great that they will be the same format as the Woodworker’s Pocket Book. I will definitively have them in my shop and recommend them to my future students.
Just in time! I’m what you might call a Scraper. At the age of 76 and with the associated thin skin, my proximity to anything even slightly sharp (and in some cases dull) brings on the most persistent flow of the red stuff. I’m really looking forward to the Doctor’s book. Maybe there’s a hint on not getting scraped in the first place.
house blew up, 1 year old
Pitchfork through foot, 6 years old
Xacto buried in right thigh, 11
Broken ankle, 12
chainsaw leg, 20
hatchet’ed hand, 21
gransfors Bruks’ed ankle (missed the artery and ligaments), 45
Yeah, I’m getting the wound book. Probably time I stopped using the rub dirt in it method.
Ah! Did the rub-dirt thing when I was stung by a hornet while working as a county park ranger so many years ago. Great stuff (Hah)!
Wound care book? I was building something from one of Richard Maguire’s build videos and in one of the videos he has a piece of paper towel around his finger wrapped with duct tape. Its good to know even the pros are just like the rest of us when it comes to shop wound care.
Roy Underhill should be a consultant on the wound care book. How many times did hurt himself on camera?
To have Chris openly admit, “I have been a little obsessed with little books” gives me tremendous comfort and enables me in this same “obsession.” Thanks Chris!
I will be getting all of these. My workshop first aid kit is quite basic already but I am certain I can learn a lot from a doctor. Betadine, Amish chickweed salve (drawing salve), colloidal silver, bandaids and butterflies. Electrical tape for temporarily cutting off blood.
Did you notify Jason at Texas Heritage so he can make a bigger slip case?
You can’t make a slipcase until you have the finished book. The thickness of the book is critical to how it fits in the case. We will send Jason one of the first ones off the press…. I hope he will offer a case for these other pocket books.
The Wound Care book belongs in the tool chest.
or maybe on the side, where it’s easier to access with just one hand.
I was thinking the same thing. Or a Small Book Tool Roll”. Haha
Both sound great. And I certainly could use the wound care one. So far in my life time, only a few trips to the ER and right out, but I’m always getting nicked. My father was a medic on a heavy cruiser in WW2 so he served as my ER for childhood and I learned a lot. But while I still have all my parts, and several scars, my old skin isn’t as tough as it once was so even minor nicks need attention. Hope it covers using “Wound Seal”. Interesting powder made from some polymer and potassium ferrate.
Hope they’re available at Dictum or any other EU-based platform. That’d make me so much easier to get them which I do intend to do.
Wonderful! I have “little” books from bookstalls in Paris, shops in Vienna and Salzburg, and other places. I want these because they sound really good and to justify yet another specialized shelf in the face of eye-rolls all round.
I like those pocket formats, great idea. About sharpening – I cannot recommend enough to actually pay a visit to some friend / teacher / mentor who knows how to sharpen, and experience the process hands-on. Once you grasp it, it becomes a second nature, like riding a bicycle. Actually, when I think of it, sharing this hobby with any real-world friend is priceless…