Tool by Tool, Skill by Skill

Welcome to working wood with hand tools!

Many people are rediscovering the simple joy of making things from wood with tools whose power comes from us. Quality tools are easy to find again, along with books, magazines, videos, and classes explaining how to use them.

You can learn at your own pace, on your own budget, in your own space.

Getting started, however, remains difficult. Classes offer a wonderful combination of hands-on instruction and toolchests filled to the brim with everything you need. For those getting started at home, however, there is rarely a full toolchest. There may not even be a good place to work. Learning paths that work well in fully-equipped shops often don’t help much at a kitchen table with a minimal toolbox.

This site eases those challenges by braiding together two key paths:

• A sequence of projects that teach skills

• A sequence of tools that goes with the projects

The early projects will help you learn with a minimal set of tools. Later projects will build on those skills and that toolset. It’s easy to get lost in the endless possibilities catalogs and stores offer. To minimize that, tool discussions will include specific options at a variety of prices.

By the time you’re done with this book, you’ll have acquired the skills and tools you need to create basic projects in wood. More important, you’ll have enough experience and tools to move forward into the other books, videos, and classes.

You can explore the table of contents and the (very) draft.