The Handy Shop Reference: Useful Facts and Figures for Every Woodworker

This is a handy reference for the woodshop. I only gave it four stars because it would have been better if it was spiral bound so it would lay flat on the bench.

(Could/should be) a useful addition to shop, BUT like others have written, a spiral binding that would lay flat on your bench would be MUCH better!!! Thought this was senseless whining in other reviews, but what they did NOT say was that the binding is actually a VERRRY RIGID (UNLIKE your typical paperback) spine that will NOT lay OPEN --- and I mean WILL NOT!!! Open it to any page, set it down, and it CLOSES ITSELF! CANNOT even prop it open with a heavy tool. Not just an inconvenience or annoyance, but actually makes it almost unusable!

This book is a great addition to any shop. My only wish is that it was spiral bound so it would lay flat on my workbench.

The Handy Shop Reference, is a plethora of information covering woodworking math (conversions, geometry), furniture design (dimensional standards, jointery), materials (wood characteristics, qualities, behaviors), adhesives, tools, sharpening, fasteners, finishing, and safety. Overall I found there is a lot of general information that I was already familiar with but, it did provide refresher informational processes, calculations, and references that I was unaware of.Bottom-line this is a useful shop reference for designers and builders to have.

The most helpful thing I've bought since I started DIY woodworking. Never far from my side. All kinds of tables, charts, definitions, size and weight conversions, completely tells you everything about every kind of wood. Safety stuff. Tons of geometry tables for woodworking. Formulas. Basics on sharpening, finishing, adhesives, fasteners. All woodworkers should have a copy, no matter how much experience you have.

It's a substantial little book, however there's nothing in it that can't be found, with minimal effort, on the internet.

If you have been a woodworker for a while, you probably know a lot of what is in the book, but I found tons of useful info. I have a lot of books in my shop, but I find myself reaching for this one all the time. It will save you so much time, it pays for itself overnight.

Really great to have around the garage. It has tons of equations, dimensions, explanations, examples, etc. If you have a question about what you're trying to do with woodworking it's more than likely in this book.

Any attempt to read this cover to cover will probably result in information overload and burbling, BUT an incredibly useful and packed source of information relating to every aspect of woodworking that I can think of.(and there are lots of areas that I don't even know about.)

I have looked through the book and found some of the information useful but somemore to the American market.

A nice heads-up on the book description to mention the imperial unit approach would have been nice. What would have been even nicer is to display metric as well. So now I'm scribbling metric conversions on all the useful formulas.It has good stuff, especially useful to keep close at hand when tackling unusual geometries.

Very good in facts and figures for wood work. One less star due to metric size conversion not being available.

This is a great book to have in the workshop with a wealth of knowledge.