An amateur woodworker and passionate about history, at WoodworkingHistory.Com I am writing an online History of Woodworking, with a particular focus on amateur woodworking. My website includes (1) an extensive glossary, where entries define a multitude of topics that relate to woodworking's history, (2) historical documents, and (3) many other textual materials and images of woodworking's history, especially amateur woodworking.

An ongoing project, the history consists of

(1) My Introduction

I recommend this be read first

(2) Historical Narratives

Link leads to a "Table of Contents", for a decade-by-decade account, comprising 12 narrative chapters, each uniformly subdivided into 8 subchapters.

(3) Glossary

Extensive definitions of a wide range of woodworking terms, including their historical origins

Check out Router and Bandsaw for Updating & Additions

(4) Appendices

Narrative and images that explore topics related to woodworking's history

(5) Selected Primary Sources

(a) Vintage Woodworker's Manuals

(b) Catalogs of Old Hand-Held Tools and Bench-Top Machines, Plus Miscellaneous Materials Hard to Classify

Check out my latest pdf catalog, a 1913 edition of the Heavy Hardware Co -- a firm based in Toledo, Ohio that specialized in "carriage and wagon maker's, blacksmiths' and horseshoer's supplies", but upon looking deeper, a whole lot more too.

(c) Historical Documents

Email me at ray@woodworkinghistory.com

Additions to or Revised Pages on the Website

Charles Harold Hayward, Three Books on Cabinetmaking, 1936, 1943, 1950.

THE INTENT IS TO SHOW HAYWARD'S ALL-EMBRACING SKILLS as a journalist in woodworking, as a historian of British furniture, and -- because he originally trained as a carpenter -- as a skilled user of woodworking tools. But a careful reader will see something else among these pages, the real concern of all British citizens at this moment: coping with the War or mopping up in its the aftermath. Taken together, the 80-odd pages in this pdf all embrace aspects of woodworking at a particular time in British history, the 1940s and the early 1950s. At the close of the 1940s decade, Britain is still recovering from the most devastating war in its history. Wartime rationing is still in place -- as you can tell from a careful reading Hayward's comments in his "Foreword".

Robert Weymss Symonds, Veneered Walnut Furniture, 1947.

Includes an intro written by me, and highlights and annotations in the text. Symonds is both a scholar and collector of furniture, and writes about the grand tradition in British cabinet-making, the origin and impact of "veneered walnut furniture". The author combines black-and-white photos -- with informed annotations -- of about 50 pieces of veneered walnut furniture created in Britain between 1660 and 1760. Several pages of commentary precede the actual text.

I revised the glossary page entry on the workbench. Look at it and tell me what you think.

Click here and scroll down to the page where the 1950s pubs are and look at some pdf versions of vintage Delta power tool booklets, given me by amateur cabinetmaker, Michael Turri Black and Decker Router Craft Manual

The Woodworker's Question Box and the Woodworker's Tips Box Post Your Questions or Read the Tips Do you have a question about anything you've read on my website, or do you have a question about woodworking itself? While my specialty is the history of woodworking -- and I come with forty years experience conducting research at an academic institution-- still, as a life-long amateur woodworker, I have enough experience and skill to speak as an "insider" to woodworking. But my friend, Stan Klonowski, an accomplished professional woodworker -- with forty years of experience -- will answer questions about woodworking -- all the while sharing his "successes-and-failures" -- including layout, choosing the right wood for projects, using hand and power tools, finishing your projects, and the like. Likewise, check out Stan's "Tips for Woodworkers", tips for woodworker's that come from wisdom derived from a lifelong career in woodworking. Taken together, you're getting a "double-barrelled" team: Fire away! Post Your Questions or Read the Tips Sources for parts for vintage hand held power tools:-- Charles H. Day in Portland, OR -- 503 232-1659. for vintage stationary woodworking tools:-- Plaza Machinery in Bethel VT.

Recommended Websites for Tracing Woodworking History Directory of American Tools and Machinery Patents  A database of patent info on power woodworking tools. Includes diagrams patentees needed to submit for obtaining patents. Use Internet Explorer Browser, and Broadband speed is nice. Vintage Machinery  Formerly known as Old Woodworking Machines, this website is dedicated to documenting woodworker's vintage power machinery. Links, pictures of restored vintage machines, old catalogs, discussion, many of 6000 members expert in the historical details of individual tools. And Don't overlook Google Patent search