Woodcraft Ninjas

The following is excerpted from “Honest Labour,” a collection of essays from The Woodworker magazine while the legendary Charles H. Hayward was editor (1936-1966). This book is the fifth and final volume in our series from The Woodworker. The excerpt below is from 1956, and remains, I think, wholly applicable 66 years on. – Fitz…

The following is excerpted from “The Woodworker: The Charles Hayward Years,” Vol. IV. This fourth book in the series covers three different topics. 1) The Workshop, including the design and construction of workbenches, tool chests and wall cabinets. There’s also an entire section devoted to “appliances,”which are workshop accessories such as shooting boards. 2) Furniture…

The following is excerpted from Volume III of “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years.” First published in 1950, the book is beautifully illustrated by Hayward and contains the kind of spare prose that made him the best woodworking author of the 20th century. Like a good woodworking joint, Hayward’s text contains nothing superfluous and…

The following is excerpted from Vol. II of “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years: Techniques.” As editor of The Woodworker magazine from 1939 to 1967, Hayward oversaw the transformation of the craft from one that was almost entirely hand-tool based to a time where machines were common, inexpensive and had displaced the handplanes, chisels…

The following is excerpted from Vol. 1 of “The Woodworker: The Charles Hayward Years,” which covers tools. Hayward (1898-1998) was, in our opinion, the most important workshop writer and editor of the 20th century. Unlike any person before (and perhaps after) him, Hayward was a trained cabinetmaker and extraordinary illustrator, not to mention an excellent…