Product Review

For speed and production, but not necessarily quality, power tools are the norm in many amateur workshops. However, thanks to the maker movement, there is renewed interest among crafters and woodworkers in using traditional handtools. The personal satisfaction, the pleasure of hands-on work, and the more leisurely, contemplative approach to woodworking is replacing the need for the speed and noise of power tools.
In Traditional Woodworking Handtools, the second volume in his Illustrated Workshop Series, Graham Blackburn has assembled a virtual encyclopedia of traditional woodworking handtools, including holding tools, saws, planes, edge tools, setting-out tools, boring tools, and striking tools. Each tool is listed and includes a full description of what it does and how it’s used. His engaging writing, which includes anecdotes from his four decades as a master woodworker, entertains as well as instructs. And the hundreds of line drawings of handtools are illuminating. While also a reference for anyone collecting or simply fascinated by handtools, Traditional Woodworking Handtools is a user’s guide for the woodworker and crafter, designed to help reintroduce many of these tried-and-true tools into today’s workshops.