The Woodworks Library is a collection of woodworking books, which includes a number of topical books that are not specifically about woodworking, but are related to, and of possible interest to woodworkers.

There are a number of ways to get to the Woodworks library, and likely one of the easiest if you have already found yourself here reading this is to look into the upper margin of this web page, and look for the row of “Brown Blocks” up there that have listings printed in them.

They are all links to other pages related to this site and the one you want is the fifth one from the left entitled “Library”. Clicking that link will take you to a Library Interlink page that will either link directly to the top of the “Library” and it also contains a “Clickable Topic Index” that allows you to navigate directly to the top of the list for 15 different kinds of Topical Content found in the “Library”

Also if you rather the direct link to the Library is: http://www.evenfallstudios.com/woodworks_library/woodworks_library and in a pinch if you have not got a bookmark handy where you are, you can get to the “Woodworks Library” by using Google. It is the Top Link at Google if you use the name as the search term.

A new feature of the Woodworks Library is improved navigation. There are 15 sub topics in the Library and a clickable index at the top of the Library to quickly navigate to each of the topical sections you want. It is a lot faster than scrolling, but you can do that too. There is also a return to the navigation link at the bottom of each topical section.

Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, I copied the navigational index that is in the Library, to the Library interlink page here at Woodworks, so you can go direct to topic from the library interlink page as well.

There have been a large number of book additions to all the topical areas of the Library. Highlights include a Copy of Moxon in Woodworking, as well as many other great texts, from joinery to farm woodworking. The Carpentry section has many great books that will outline most any thing you want, from how to use every way possible when laying out with a carpenter’s square to how to build stair cases. The Understanding Wood section has seen some Forest Product Labs additions on adhesives and wood hardness, and some older texts about glues from a century ago.

There are a lot of new texts on files and saw filing in Hand Tools. If you ever wanted to know what there was published on the use of many files, it is in there. Some interesting texts on sheet metal work in Blacksmithing, Understanding sheet metal work has a lot of application outside the direct application. Books on drafting and lay out in Blueprint Reading, several new additions on painting and finishing, a new topic that includes books on leather work and upholstery, and well as a host of historic texts in the Furniture and Design section, for helping study period furniture, even a book containing a lot of Chippendale’s original drawings.

The Shop Machinery section has a book on the basic operation of most all shop machines that is very applicable to the basic operations of today’s machines. Not much has changed. The books even include a lot of operator tricks. There is also a new book in there regarding the set up of Shop Machinery when run off of a central belt system with leather belts. The Turning section gained a few new-old texts that will be of interest to those who want to know how turning was approached 150 years ago.

The Machine Tools section gained some great machine shop references and there is are some large files in there so prepare for the page loads to take some time. Some of what is in the Pattern Making section may be good information to the machine works as well.

There is so much more there than I have mentioned, and like a good movie, I don’t want to destroy the adventure of allowing you having a look for yourself. So please, feel free to venture over to the “Woodworks Library” whenever you like. It is 100% Free 24/7 and contains a lot of information to help you become a more complete woodworker.

Happy Woodworking!

The nature and ways of wood, joinery, adhesives, and style are all things that need to be dealt with in the “what” to build and “how” to build it. Is it furniture, casework, cabinetry? Will it involve carpentry, as a built in as many elements of Arts and Crafts styling will? will it include some metal work or upholstery? Other leading questions like, will I have the appropriate tools, and can I properly fixture the work for all the different elements of construction? What finishes are most appropriate, and how best to apply them?

You see, it is a lot of questions. Fortunately there are a lot of answers. The art and craft of woodworking is age old, in fact, even our great grandparents and grandparents knew a lot about it, and lucky for us, even as much of an undertaking it was to publish books back in the day, the understandings of the woodworking trades, the methods and the how to with hand and power tools was something they authors of that period wrote about quite articulately. There was a want for future generations to know these things, and there was a lot they understood.

With all things old becoming new again with the resurgence of interest in woodworking as well as some of its somewhat forgotten ways, many libraries as well as groups like Project Gutenberg and companies like Google and Microsoft have taken on the mammoth task of digitizing many of these old texts, of which there were few left in access to the public, before father time could claim them. Fortunately many of these books are now available in the public domain and can be used quite freely by anyone as long as their purposes are not commercial.

The daunting thing I have learned is that it is hard to know what all has been digitized to the public domain, and where exactly to find a particular kind of knowledge, because each place has a bunch of books but none of them has all of them. Harder still the books are not categorized for easy access to the woodworker with a need for specific information. My desire was one amongst others I am sure, to help people find and have access to this old but still completely relevant information. By the time I finished hunting (for now) I came up with over 100 books and nearly 1 gigabyte of collected works.

This collection became The Woodworks Library. My criteria for the library was to only have complete books which were fully clear in the United States as existing freely as public domain. The original copyright holder has not renewed their claims and the book is no longer of commercial value to publishers, this means you can have it, I can have it, and as long as we do not use it for commercial use in any way, then the priceless information within is available to help us all be better at the things we hope to achieve.

The Woodworks Library is organized in a somewhat comfortable fashion. I did not bother with over-categorization of it, because many of the books in it cover a wide range of subject matter. After evaluating each book, I placed it in the list according to what seemed to be the biggest theme of the book. You will find that many of the books will cover many of the same things, topically, but once you wade in, you will see that the books were written at different times and or each author came from a different school of thought, and so the cross comparisons of information will be very interesting.

Read with an open mind and remember the era for which they were written as well as the audience the author was writing to. While it is great to feel a certain book speaks to you more than another, there is something in all of the books and the differing methods and understanding are of note, because it affords us all a chance to walk in that author or editor’s shoes. Wood, and the crafts that are supportive to it, are a many faceted knowledge, and you never know when a knowledge you discount or disagree with today may become your saving grace tomorrow. So just do your best and absorb all you can. Trust me, there is a lot to read and many of these authors clearly made sharing it with future generations it their life’s work.

Is there something in here for everyone? Perhaps a little, maybe not. I’ll leave that up to you to decide for you. That which is here, I’ve tried to organize by listing books and writings in categories which were most directly related yet not overly topical, and as a descending list in an order, which mainly attempted to group like with like without being too constraining.

By topic, we have; Understanding Wood, Furniture and Design, Woodworking, Carpentry, Turning, Carving, Finishing, Patternmaking, Shop Mathematics and Calculation, Blueprint Reading, Hand Tools, Machine Tools, Shop Machinery, and finally, Blacksmithing Welding and Metalwork. Remember, There are over 100 full-length books, and the occasional technical paper, just waiting for whomever to have a look and learn something new.

Feel free to bookmark the Library, and remember there is always a link to it directly on every page here at the Woodworks, so help yourself, and learn what was known about working wood long ago. It is here for everyone to use as a resource that helps us all become better woodworkers. All the information is as valid and applicable today as ever. If you know of any books in the digital realm, which are in the public domain as complete works, and seem like they are a good fit for the Woodworks Library, please fell free to contact me about them and we’ll see what we can do to add them. After all, it’s all for anyone practicing the crafts.