Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings [Paperback]

Aldren A. Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

A longtime woodworker's illustrated guide to the tools of the trade and how to use them.

For those who would like to have the benefit of a woodworker's extensive experience with hand tools, this is the book to own. Crammed with practical information, it is the next best thing to looking over a craftsman's shoulder as he works with his tools, asking questions and getting straight answers in plain language, seeing how each tool is held and manipulated to get the best work out of it. From bit brace, chisel, and mallet to saws, specialized planes, drawknife, and spokeshave, Aldren Watson describes in detail the actions of the tools basic to good woodworking. All the procedures are explicitly illustrated with handsome line drawings, and an appendix gives plans and dimensions for making a workbench and other necessary pieces of shop equipment. With 450 b/w illustrations by the author.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Aldren A. Watson is an illustrator and designer as well as woodworker and has written and illustrated many magazine articles and books, including The Blacksmith and Country Furniture, published by Norton. He lives in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393322769
• ISBN-13: 978-0393322767
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Hand Tools
  • #46 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Home Repair

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most useful book I have bought yet, December 2, 2003

By 

S. Cheung (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings (Paperback)

I have recently taken an interest in woodworking. Being someone who like to learn about the theories before actually doing anything, I started buying and reading a number of woodworking books, and doing some experimenting and practicing with the information I learned.

This book is the most useful one that I have read yet. It is extrememly easy to read, and captures the basic techniques for using a number of common hand tools. The chapter on chisels is one of my favorites, and the chapter on planes has clearer instruction on how to use different type of planes than another book of mine that talks only about planes.

Reading this book after reading other "how to" books about joinery, furniture, etc. clarifys a lot of things, making the picture complete so to speak.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on using traditional woodworking hand tools., December 3, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Hand Tools (Paperback)

In this book you will learn the tricks that a master woodworker teaches his apprentice. It is the best book on using and caring for traditional woodworking hand tools I have found. It covers everything from hand planes to the lowly nail set using excellently clear illistrations. In the back of the book is an appendix with plans for a no- nonsense workbench and other handy shop items you can make yourself. It has the best advice on sharpening hand saws and other tools I have ever read. The author uses clear, concise language that even a hairy-knuckled woodworker can undersand.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best in Its Class, March 16, 2007

By 

S. Schuler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings (Paperback)

It is a pity that Watson's book is not better known among woodworkers, as it is the most comprehensive guide to using hand tools that I have yet seen on the market. Watson devotes chapters to workbenches and vises, braces and bits, chisels (which he covers quite extensively), files and rasps, mallets, saws, sandpaper, squares, and planes (the most extensive chapter in the book). He also covers less common tools such as the drawknife, the marking gauge, scrapers, the inshave, and the spokeshave, as well as very common tools like wire brushes, levels, nail sets, and screwdrivers. Watson's descriptions of each tool's function are clear and concise. His book is not cluttered by text, though it does a thorough job of explaining not only common uses for hand tools, but also advanced techniques. For example, this is one of the only woodworking books I know that explains how to cut a chamfer with a hand plane, or how to use a rasp to cut a round tenon on square stock. Perhaps the book's only fault is that it does not discuss either wooden planes or Japanese tools at all. But the book's greatest strength is its illustrations, all drawn by the author. Photographs in many other woodworking books have too many shadows to be very useful, and often a crucial tool operation is hidden by the hand that is performing it. Watson's masterful drawings overcome this problem--they illustrate tool mechanics, user posture, and wood texture, all with a minimum of extraneous detail. This work is the best single-volume book on traditional woodworking tools and techniques currently available. It is also significantly longer--over 400 pages--than most other woodworking books. Watson is required reading for anyone interested in the topic, and his book is the standard by which all other woodworking books should be judged for years to come.