Reddit reviews The Minimalist Woodworker: Essential Tools and Smart Shop Ideas for Building with Less

I'm new to hand tools after growing up building rough construction around a farm with power tools. So it's a challenge for me to translate my thoughts over to hand tools as well. I was recently in a hand tool workshop and asked the instructor if I could just go rip something on the table saw real quick then continue with cutting the joinery. I got a dissapointed head shake from the instructor followed by a quick lesson on ripping to the line with a sharp D8 and understanding that the ripped edge didn't need to be perfectly square for what we were doing.

With practice I'm getting better at thinking through how to accomplish tasks with hand tools, but it takes time. Every time I encounter a new mental block I learn a new way to overcome it.

If YouTube is your preferred way of digesting infromation check out Wood by Wright. If you like RWW you'll definitely like James Wright. And of course Paul Sellers and Frank Klaus are must watch material.

For me, my local library and the woodworking guild I'm a member at both have a ton of woodworking books.

There are tons of great detailed plans in them. I've been renting books then scanning the plans I'm most interested in to keep a little archive for myself.

Of the hand tool focused books I've gone through so far all of Christopher Schwarz's books are great (more books from his and his publishing company). I also really love The New Traditional Woodworker by Jim Tolpin. It's fantastic for shop project plans and also succinctly describing what tools are necessary/recommended in a hand tool shop. He simplifies things a bit more than Christopher Schwarz, which is actually kind of nice. His Toolbox Book is pretty fantastic as well for ideas and plans. After how much I've enjoyed these two books I'm definitely going to check out more of his stuff.

I also bought a book on making canoe paddles that describes how to make them with power tools, modern hand tools, or 3 simple hand tools in the Native American tradition. I'm definitely finding that the more specific the subject of the book the more detailed the instructions are.

I've been wanting to check out The Minimalist Woodworker and Tom Fidgen's books ASAP, but I have to wait until someone else returns them. Such is the downfall of relying on libraries.

But even when I'm reading books that seem focused on power tools it seems most of the plans in books basically just describe layouts and cuts and maybe suggest ways of making the cuts. With the detailed drawings and explanations you can really just use them as a guide then follow the steps with whatever tools you have. Ie. It will tell you to dovetail the sides of a box and show you a diagram. But you can cut them with a router, table saw, bandsaw, hand tools, cnc machine, or whatever else you can dream up. Most people that write plans understand that hobbyist woodworkers all own different tools and posses different skills. So they leave it open to making cuts however it works for you.

Honestly, even the hand tool based plans and videos were intimidating to me at first. I thought I would need every special chisel, joinery plane, marking tool, saw in every potential set up, etc. before I even got started. Then I went to a couple hand tool workshops and realized I could accomplish most things reasonably well with just a couple chisels, basic saws, and a plane or three. All the extra tools just increase efficiency, accuracy, and maybe give you the ability to make some shapes and designs that look nice, but aren't completely necessary. So it's up to you to adapt a plan to what tools you have available.

I highly recommend seeing if you have access to a source of free or cheap woodworking books near you. Then just look for books written by writers that have a hand tool focus. That way you'll have to do a little less mental conversion from power tool focused instructions over to hand tool use.

Also, for me it's actually nice to have physical copies of plans in front of me. That way I can really dissect the drawings and think them through at my own pace rather than constantly pausing, rewinding, and fast forwarding a video. This is especially helpful when you're having to think through and convert cuts to the tools and skills you posses.