Old Wood working Books ~ Project Gutenberg Ebooks

  A Course in Wood Turning
This is a link to the ever-expanding Project Gutenberg, the online source of copyright books has re-published this 1919 vintage book by Archie S. Miton & Otto K Wohler as a free ebook.  The book is a primer on the basics of wood turning and is an outgrowth of the authors' experience with high schools students of the day.  A Course in Wood Turning is divided into two parts, spindle turning and faceplate turning.  There are lots of exercises and many illustrations.  If at all possible, view the book in HTML format so that you can see the illustrations. 

• Things To Make
Here is an undated book from the early 20th century by Archibald Williams.  At 441 pages, this book contains a wide ranging collection of projects for the home craftsman, from joiners bench, to sheds, and doors.  Mr. Williams as has toys for both the adult and the child, such as  telegraph keys, harmonographs, steam tops, water motors, and a miniature gasworks. 

• Illustrated History of Furniture - From the Earliest to the Present Time
This  link will take you to a generously illustrated 1893 book by Fredrick Litchfield.  When Mr. Litchfield said earliest, he meant it, since it begins with Egyptian and Roman homes and works his way through mediaeval and into the Victorian era.  A good book to separate the Chippendale from the Jacobean in your mind.

• Handbook on Japanning
This 1913 era book link will answer most of those questions regarding that odd thick black finish on your Stanley planes.

• NEW Woodwork Joints
Through over 400-line drawings this 1930 era book by William Fairham illustrates the proper methods of laying out and executing woodworking joints.  In addition to the standard joints and variations that you'd expect, Mr. Fairham also covers curved and circular work, as well as a few puzzle joints.

• French Polishing and Enameling
This 1910 era book on French polishing goes quite a bit beyond the basics and contains a chapter on various finishing formulas, as well as a list of natural ingredients, just in case you want to brew your own.

• NEW Boy Mechanic - Volume 1 - by Popular Mechanics
Subtitled, 700 things for Boys to Do with 800 illustrations Showing How. This 587 page book, published in 1913 is loaded with the types of projects that I would have loved as a boy - there are also some that would turn a mother's hair prematurely gray.  All in all, it is a great browse and I can't wait for Volume 2!

• English Housewifery
When it's time to whip up a golootish lunch you will find this 1764 book the last word on stewing a pike and pickling a smelt, or after closing up shop for the day, how to make a jug of 'ratife brandy.'

Note about project Gutenberg ebooks. They are usually available in at least a couple of formats (e.g. plain text, PDF, MS Word, Rich Text, etc.- both standard and zipped).  As are all things on the net, as the visual quality gets better as the file gets larger.  You may have to chose a zip version of the PDF or Rich Text format and  "open" the zip file on your computer.