Resources
On the Web
www.medievalwoodworking.com - My web page
moas.atlantia.sca.org - Atlantian MoAS links
Books on Furniture
Cescinsky, Herbert. English Furniture from Gothic to Sheraton. New York, Dover, 1968. 406 pp.
One of the standard references on English furniture. Cescinsky's illustrations are good, but don't believe him when he credits work to wandering foreigners. Pretty common in used bookstores.
Chinnery, Victor. Oak furniture. The British tradition : a history of early furniture in the British Isles and New England. Woodbridge, Suffolk : Antique Collectors' Club, 1979. 618 p. ISBN: 1851490132
A truly wonderful work that focuses on middle-class British furniture from 1500 to 1720. Extensive notes and diagrams on styles, materials, construction methods, and the social context. There are also a number of illustrations and construction diagrams for earlier pieces. The book to get for Tudor and Elizabethan furniture.
Diehl, Daniel. Constructing Medieval Furniture: Plans and Instructions with Historical Notes. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997. 180 pp.
Measured drawings of several pieces. Diehl makes several dubious statements about medieval woodworking and I don't trust the provenance of some of his pieces (some of them are reproductions), but his plans look OK if taken with a grain of salt.
Diehl, Daniel and Mark Donnelly. Medieval Furniture: Plans and Instructions for Historical Reproductions. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1999.
The comments for Diehl's earlier work apply to this one as well.
Eames, Penelope. Furniture in England, France and the Netherlands from the 12th to the 15th Century. London: The Furniture History Society, 1977. 303 pp.
Out of print and hard to find, but probably the best scholarly work in English on medieval furniture. Tons of information on technique, materials, and the social context of the furniture.
Tracy, Charles. English Medieval Furniture and Woodwork. London: Antique Collector's Club, 1988. 216 pp.
A catalog of the V&A's furniture and woodwork collection. Mostly woodwork, but some really good furniture shots. The captions can be annoyingly brief.
Books and Magazines on Tools & Technique
Blackburn, Graham. Traditional Woodworking Handtools: A Manual for the Woodworker. Bearsville, NY: Blackburn Books, 1998.
Lots of good tips on using and tuning old tools. I'm getting rather fond of this one, but I haven't decided if I like it as well as Watson. Copiously illustrated with drawings by the author.
Dunbar, Michael. Restoring, Tuning & Using Classic Woodworking Tools. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1989. ISBN: 0-8069-6670-X 253 p.
The standard reference on restoring and using old tools with a concentration on planes. I find it invaluable, especially for more arcane things like sharpening spoon bits.
Jones, Bernard E., ed. The Complete Woodworker. Berkley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1998. 408 p. no ISBN.
A reprint of a work from 1917. Instructions on using various hand tools and making common household projects. Great fun to read. The chapter on "Aeroplane Woodwork" is a hoot. There is a companion volume, The Practical Woodworker, both are commonly available in used bookstores. Ten Speed Press is re-reprinting both books and they should be available Spring, 2000.
Mercer, Henry. Ancient Carpenter's Tools.
One of the classic works on old hand tools. Dover has just reprinted this work in paperback, but I don't have any more information.
Watson, Aldren A. Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 1982. ISBN: 0-393-01654-4 415 p. 450 ill.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the use of hand tools (there's even a chapter on the right way to use a screwdriver). Copiously illustrated with the author's drawings.
Fine Woodworking magazine has a series of books that reprint articles from the magazine and cover many different aspects of woodworking.
Roy Underhill's books (The Woodwright's Apprentice, The Woodwright's Companion, The Woodwright's Eclectic Workshop, The Woodwright's Shop, and The Woodwright's Work Book) cover a lot of ground in the "traditional" woodworking area.
Fine Woodworking and Woodwork are two commonly available magazines that include articles on hand tools and techniques on a fairly regular basis.