Woodworking Books On the Horizon

With 2011 already 10 days old, I’m happily anticipating some noteworthy Popular Woodworking Books that will be going on sale this year. I thought I’d take a minute and share some of those titles with you.

First up is “Backyard Projects” (available in early March, but available for pre-sale now). Seasoned project author and professional woodworker Chris Gleason has turned his woodworking sights to the great outdoors, offering 20 backyard projects to make your backyard a fun and functional oasis. The projects include traditional outdoor seating, deck accessories, functional planters and grilling stations, but Gleason also reaches out to today’s homesteader with a chicken coop and rabbit hutch. And if you’ve been looking for a tree house, he’s got one of those, too. With lots of step-by-step photos and instructions, Spring can’t come fast enough to start on these great projects for your yard.

A little further along the calendar (available in late April, but available for pre-sale now) is a new book by well-known woodworking author, Jim Tolpin. With such classic titles as “Measure Twice, Cut Once” and “Table Saw Magic,” Jim’s newest title, “The New Traditional Woodworker,” marks a momentous change in his woodworking career. Feeling the call of hand-tool woodworking, Jim has walked away from the clouds of dust and the ear-piercing noise of woodworking machines. His approach is to teach the tool set, the skill set and the mind set that makes hand-tool woodworking a pleasure – and one of the fastest-growing segments in woodworking. “The New Traditional Woodworker” teaches the basics of using hand tools by building shop and bench accessories that can then be used to build other projects. Packed with beautiful photography and the wisdom we expect and respect from Jim Tolpin, this will be a popular title.

This September, we’ll be offering an anniversary edition of one of the best-selling woodworking books of the past 40 years. Thomas Moser’s “How to Build Shaker Furniture” first appeared in the late 1970s and was one of the first woodworking books available with dimensioned plans of Shaker furniture. As Shaker was a popular style then and now, the book quickly became a mainstay in most woodworking shops. Since then, the book has been reprinted many times, and Thomas Moser’s woodworking name has continued to grow as a manufacturer of quality furniture. In 2011 Thomas Moser Cabinetmakers will celebrate 40 years in business, and as part of that celebration we will be re-issuing “How To Build Shaker Furniture” in an anniversary edition with color photographs (the book has only been available to date with black & white photographs), re-drawn, detailed illustrations and additional projects. We’re excited to be a part of this celebration, and delighted to offer this updated classic to a new generation of woodworkers.

These are just a few of the books we’ll be publishing this year, and only a small fraction of the hundreds of woodworking titles available at the Shop Woodworking web site.

– David Thiel, editor, Popular Woodworking Books