Complete Guide to Woodworking: All the essential techniques and skills you need

Savalged wood is one of an upcyclers favourite mediums to work with. Whether it be pallet, scaffold board or remnants of an old cupboard, getting the best out of what you've found needs a level of skill. Here author Chris Tribe takes you through initial chapters explaining about types of wood, how to safely use hand and power tools, and via detailed instructions offers practical lessons to teach you woodworking techniques. Working through the chapters, you'll discover sanding, sawing and drilling, then move onto more complex skills such as jointing, veneering and routing, before putting together the knowledge you've gathered to make one of the step-by-step projects.

This is a brilliant book for anyone that has ever wanted to do woodworking. It really is a complete guide to get you started. Chris Tribe passes on his 30 years of experience in this comprehensive book.

Starting off with all important workshop safety, Tribe then takes us through every aspect of getting started, mustering skills and finally completing projects.

The basics of wood and the workshop are covered first. Natural woods and man made boards are explained before moving onto hand tools and their uses. All the main tools are pictured and explained.

Power tools are then the order of the day, followed by woodworking techniques. The routing, jointing, veneering and finishing chapters will have you feeling like a real pro by the time you reach the end of them and these are difficult techniques which are dealt with step by step in an easy to follow way.

The book ends with a chapter on projects, which include how to make an oak side table and a memory box, amongst other projects.

There is also a useful glossary at the end of the book which is a great reference tool.

This is a very easy to follow book, set out in a straightforward and easy to follow way, great for the beginner, but it also contains a lot of detail and a concentration of knowledge, which makes it perfect to use as a reference work too.

Chris Tribe has been designing and making contemporary furniture for over 30 years, and his work has been exhibited at galleries and exhibitions nationwide. He has also taught furniture making and woodwork at a number of colleges in Yorkshire, and now teaches from his workshop in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Being self-taught himself, he believes he has a clear understanding of the problems facing the beginner woodworker. Chris has written regularly for the woodworking press, with articles appearing in woodworking journals in the UK and France.

Steve Branam is a woodworking instructor and hand-tool enthusiast.
He blogs at www.closegrain.com.