Customer Reviews:
 I Love This Book! August 20, 2007
I don't gush over books very often but this is one of the best investments I have ever made. The illustrations are startling and the writing is clear and unadorned.
What Watson does very well is assume nothing with regard to his reader. He neither panders to the "old pro" nor is condescending to the "rank amateur." He just talks about how to use hand tools, how to think about hand tools and how to appreciate hand tools. I don't think there is a person doing wood working today who would not find something in here that makes them say "Oh, yeah..., that's a good idea."
I have spent quite a lot of money on the Taunton woodworking library and I value them highly. They are good books. But this one is the first one I pick up when I am just spending a few minutes sitting down or before drifting off to sleep.
One caution - this book is about "hand tools" and does include chapters on tools like "hand augurs" which very few of us use, however I have to admit I am tempted to buy one just because of the obvious pleasure this guy has in them. One of my quirks I suppose.
Useful book August 9, 2007
This book, required reading for boatbuilding students at the Landing School, is a terrific resource for anyone using handtools. It covers usage, care, and maintenance of hand tools. A valuable reference book that I will keep handy in my toolroom.
Elegant, useful book May 24, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As someone new to woodworking who wants to focus on hand tools, I found this book an excellent introduction to tools ranging from the obvious to the relatively obscure. When I picked it up, I didn't think I had much to learn about, for example, hammers and screwdrivers; I was wrong. Then came the tools that I knew little or nothing about, such as draw knives, spoke shaves, marking gauges and bits and braces. Watson provides explanations of the working principles behind each, pointers on their use and proper maintenance, and offers plans for home-built accessories to improve the utility of your workshop. He even provides his readers two workbench options that I wish I'd seen before I built one of my own. Watson's writing is straightforward and clear, his voice is experienced but never condescending, and his drawings not only provide guidance but also lend a warmth and sense of craft to the book that make it a pleasure to return to again and again. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in woodworking. It's a great place to start, and a reference you'll return to for tips, ideas, and reassurance.
Best in Its Class March 16, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
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.
One of the best hand-tools books December 21, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I read about tools. A lot. Watson's book is one of the best of the genre
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