Woodworking

Welcome to the Woodworking Wikibook, a collaborative textbook about cabinet making and joinery aimed at beginners to the trade. Here you will learn from 'first principles' with an emphasis on technique and improving your skills, not working with ready-dressed timber and shop-sharpened tools. It is vital that the beginner, tentatively embarking into this fascinating world, be led down a path that balances their desire to make beautiful furniture with a solid understanding of the fundamentals. Learning the fundamentals requires hard work and tedious repetition, which can quickly sap the enthusiasm of even the most experienced and dedicated woodworkers. The following of only the heart's desire, however, will almost certainly result in frustration and poor quality results as the learner tries to reach beyond his or her ability.

We endeavor to find the correct path in this book; acknowledging that the beginner's woodworking will often be curtailed by limitations concerning money, time, or space. Even with these restraints, he or she will likely still want to do the best work possible. If we fail to be clear, please feel free to edit or add the relevant text or images (or you can just leave a note on the talk page asking someone else to do it).

Table of Contents

 * 1) /Before you Begin/ - First thoughts / Introduction
 * 2) /Setting up a home workshop/ — Acquiring the first tools, converting a garage or basement, and building a workbench are all covered in this chapter.
 * 3) /Sharpening/ — Shaping, tuning, honing, and buffing of all woodworking edge tools.
 * 4) /Essential Hand Tools/ — This chapter covers the basic hand tools found in most small woodworking shops.
 * 5) /Tool and Workshop Maintenance/ — Once a space has been set up, and tools acquired, all must be looked after properly.
 * 6) /Breaking down and dressing/ — Reducing rough-sawn timber to size, and cleaning it up to be ready for work.
 * 7) Joints:
 * 8) /Mortice and tenon joints/ — How to cut mortices and tenons, including stopped, through, and other more complicated variations of this joint.
 * 9) …these chapters still to come (or you could help write them yourself!)…
 * 10) /Glossary/
 * 11) /The Woodworkers Library/ — Books and resources that may be helpful

Contributors

 * Sam Wilson
 * Dbr4good
 * SBJohnny
 * Swgeeknm
 * &hellip;add yourself here if you've contributed to this book.