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Workbench
Reference and Design |
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The
Workbench Book by Scott Landis
Not only THE essential book if you're thinking about building
or buying a bench, but an inspirational book as well.
I can't imagine building a workbench without having this
around. Lots of history about benches here. Several designs
and plans are in the book as well. I used the Frank Klaus
and Michael Fortune bench as my starting point. And, the
technique for installing an end vise in invaluable. |
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Making
Workbenches Planning, Building and Outfitting
Sam Allen has written one of the great books on the
design and construction of workbenches. Should be in every
woodworker's library if your thinking about building a
bench. Includes excellent plans. |
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The
Workbench A Complete Guide to Creating Your
Perfect Bench
Lon Schleining has the latest book on building workbenches.
This book has some plans (though not in as much detail
as The Workbench Book) , lots of photos of several notable
woodworkers and their benches and is very well designed
and thought out. Certainly a great resource for anyone
planning on building a bench. Lon covers severeal types
of benches so there's sure to be one that you might
find a great place to start on a bench of your own. |
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The Workbench Design Book The Art and Philosophy of Building Better Benches
Christopher Schwarz latest book contains plans for 9 benches from quick and easy to traditional. This excellent book also reviews each design and suggests wasy to improve and modify the designs to make them better. This book is well done and highly recommended. |
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Workbenches From Design and Theory to Construction and Use
Christopher Schwarz has written a great book on workbenches. He covers the history of many types of benches and does an excellent job on explaining the theory of their use and design issues. The book gives you much to think about as you design your own bench and includes plans for both a French style and English style benches which are not as thoroughly covered in other books. A really excellent new book. |
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Workbenches
& Shop Furniture
The prolific woodworking author, Nick Engler has written
a very good book on benches and other shop furniture.
He has several great ideas on his benches that are different
and very well thought out. I found a lot of them useful
in designing my own bench. |
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Tag
Frid Teaches Woodworking
Tag Frid was one of the great woodworkers and instructors
of the last 50 years. This book features plans for several
pieces of furniture and an excellent workbench. This bench
is the same bench that he built for use in the famous
College of the Redwoods woodworking classes. |
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Danny
Proulx's Toolboxes & Workbenches
Danny is a master cabinet maker and his benches reflect
his skills. This inexpensive book features benches with
lots of storage underneath the benches. |
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Build
Your Own Custom Workbenches
By Mark Corke. This book has plans for many types
of workbenches with additional storage spaces. It features
10 different benches. |
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Workshop
Reference |
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The
Workshop Book
This is the book that really inspired me to get into
woodworking. It's full of photos and plans of shops of
all sizes and uses. Looking through it really gets you
thinking about how other woodworkers create their ultimate
shops. Lots of great ideas here. Many by master woodworkers
who've been refining their ideas of what is an ideal shop
for decades. This book and the Workbench Book should be
the first books you buy to get you inspired. |
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Setting
Up Shop: The Practical Guide to Designing and Building
Your Dream Shop
Sandor's book is full of new ideas of how to organize
your workshop. Lots of help on how to use the space you
have available. Many ideas for small shops, too. |
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The
Toolbox Book
What a beautiful book. Traditionally, a woodworkers
toolbox was the way to show off his/skills and craftsmanship
when seeking work. The book has ideas, photos and plans
for wall cabinets, portable toolboxes of every concievable
configuration. Lots of help in constructing them, too.
And, two ultimate toolboxes at the end: an amazing van
that's a toolbox and the tool box used on space shuttle
missions. |
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The Evan Falls Woodworking Library
A unique collection of over 175 complete books on woodworking
and related topics of interest to woodworkers. The Library continues to grow, All Free, 24/7. These books are in the public domain in the United States and everybody, including you, may read and distribute them.
If you don't live in the United States you'll have to check the laws of the country you live in before downloading and distributing these ebooks. This library collection contains books which consist of both HTML and PDF format files.These files are very large and regrettably, are not optimized for dial up connection speeds. |
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Woodworking
Inspiration |
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Sam
Maloof: Woodworker
If you didn't already know, Sam Maloof is one the
greatest woodworkers of the last 50 years. His rockers
and chairs are absolutely breathtaking and have inspired
virtually all rocking chairs since. The book shows how
he constructs his pieces and includes a great biography.
When I look for inspiration when dealing with a design
problem on a new furniture design this is the book I open
up first. |
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The
Furniture of Sam Maloof
A retrospective of Sam's great furniture. This book
is just full of photos and catalogs almost all of Sam's
pieces throughout his long and wonderful career. It's
really neat to see how his designs have evoloved over
the years. Talk about inspiring. I read it cover to cover. |
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The
Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker's Reflections
George Nakashima was another of the great woodworkers.
His pieces blend a remarkable comination of asian, modern
and natural edge wood. He really started the idea of using
naturally edge slabs for table tops. A trully great artist. |
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Nature
Form & Spirit : The Life and Legacy of George Nakashima
Like The Furniture of Sam Maloof this book cronicles
George's pieces and his development through the years.
A wonderful catalog of much of his great work. |
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The
Impractical Cabinetmaker
James Krenov probably has done more to inspire people
to consider the craft of woodworking to make pieces as
a form of art then anyone. This book is one of 4 books
and a retrospective of the work of some of his students
at the College of the Redwoods. Many woodworkers who first
saw the first book of this series "The Cabinet Maker's
Notebook" when it came out in 1975, stopped fooling
around and really took to this craft with a passion. |
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Greene & Greene Furniture: Poems of Wood & Light.
One of the styles of furniture I like to build is in the style of two Arts & Crafts period architect:s Greene & Greene. For those unfamiliar with their work you'll find lots of great info with a google search. If you really want to learn about this outstanding furniture, a new book by David Mathias is an excellent resource. It's a great book written by one of the most knowledgeable experts on their beautiful furniture designs. It is filled with lots of information and great photos and for any woodworker it is sure to be great book to have around to learn about this great style and for inspiration for what to build on top of your workbenches. |
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Woodworking
Technique |
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Tag
Frid Teaches Woodworking
As mentioned above Tag Frid was one of the great woodworkers
and instructors of the last 50 years. This book features
comines the original volume one and two which help teach
the basic craft of woodworking. Volume 3 is a separate
book (both are well worth owning) which is furniture plans
and additional skills to build them. Plans for several
pieces of furniture is in volume 3 and an excellent workbench.
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