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.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Woodworking Handtools, Devices & Instruments is the first volume in Graham Blackburn’s paperback Illustrated Workshop series. It’s a comprehensive pictorial index of the woodworking handtools common in the Western civilization from eighteenth century to the present. Not only a fascinating record of trades and skills – from cabinetmakers to wheelwrights – in an age before powertools became the norm, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Woodworking Handtools is also a remarkable tribute to man’s technological ingenuity. More than 600 tools are listed and described, both alphabetically and fully cross-referenced for easy access, from the adze, awl, bevel, and bit to the wrest, yardstick, and zig-zag rule, complete with explicit definitions, interesting etymologies, and fascinating historical information. This classic reference contains more then 570 of Blackburn’s trademark detailed line-drawings, accompanied by an expert’s authoritative text. Whether used a handy guide book to identify a tool and its use, or read simply for enjoyment, this book stands along in capturing the sophisticated beauty and inventiveness of woodworking handtools.

While "Furniture Design & Construction" is a project book for woodworkers, it goes beyond traditional woodworking manuals to teach design concepts through carefully selected, hands-on pieces. This book is for the woodworker who is not content merely to build from preset plans; instead, it offers projects that will show how the designs originate and take shape, giving the maker the freedom to build anything, with or without plans. The book presents a dozen different pieces of furniture, each illustrated with detailed line drawings. Every project exemplifies a different lesson in design - making the book a self-teaching course in woodworking and furniture design for amateurs and experienced woodworkers alike