I'm a 'traditional' (minimalist, archaic, cheap, whatever) woodworker and I can't recommend Jeff Miller's "The Foundation Of Better Woodworking" enough. It goes over body mechanics, diagnoses some common beginner mistakes, and is an all around essential read. Dude even gets into the nitty gritty about parallax when trying to view objects from certain angles, he's the real deal, lol. He goes over proper body positioning for power tools, too. I understand wanting to be hand tool only, clearly :P, but that's good extra information to keep in your pocket, regardless.
"The New Traditional Woodworker" by Jim Tolpin is another excellent book in the minimalist vein. Has some great projects for a beginner, as well.
"The Essential Woodworker" by Robert Wearing is something I consider necessary reading. Unfortunately I found it too late in my journey, yet it was still enjoyable to read and I felt wistful I didn't find it sooner.
"The Handplane Book" by Garrett Hack... self explanatory, buy it or rent it from the library. Great, informative book on handplanes and the use thereof.
"The Complete Guide to Sharpening" by Leonard Lee, a pretty authoritative text on sharpening the entire family of hand tools. Chisel/saw/plane blade sharpening videos saturate youtube, each with their own flavor, so this isn't a necessary book. But when you want a little more detail, or want to know how to sharpen the rest of your tools, buy it!
This is a very small sample of what's there and what I've found to be the most value for your money. Make sure you're in the shop daily for at least 10 minutes practicing some skill, whether it be sawing, planing, sharpening, etc. It's easy to hibernate with all of this information, to "wait until you're ready". Don't. Go screw up a bunch of projects and have fun doing it! Your fire place will be well-fed
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Originally Posted by Kyle Foster
