Charles Harold Hayward (1898–1998)

The "Author" of this amazing 4-volume set is listed as Charles H Hayward. Certainly he wrote a lot of the content and influenced all of it. But the fact is that these volumes contain selected articles (and advertisements) from almost 30 years of The Woodworker magazine while he was the editor, and written by quite a number of people.

The introduction notes that, for home & hobby woodworkers this period covered a transition from hand tools to power tools, the truth is that the articles focus show more almost exclusively on hand tools. But it is also true that all of those tools are still in use, often for the final clean-up of joinery, adding little details, and so on.

I can't claim to have read all of the articles, and certainly not cover-to-cover-to-cover-to-cover. But when I'm thinking about how to do a particular thing, or solve a particular problem, or just want to occupy my brain with some carefully curated (twice!) woodworking knowledge, these volumes have been incredible. Routers and band saws and table saws may have made things easier, and altered the process a bit, but miter joints and dovetails and half-laps are still the same. Maybe making 1 or 2 tapers with some hand tools will be simpler than getting a jig set up exactly right even if that could batch out another 50 identical parts (but I don't need them).

But the two most important things I've learned are that there really aren't any "new" problems and that pretty much every problem, every technique, has multiple right solutions. The beauty of having so many years worth of articles grouped together by topic is that you can see several different woodworker & writer's approach to cutting a particular joint or techniques for using & maintaining a tool. And see how many of these are still being repeated today, often touted as The One True Way.

Will these volumes replace a good youtube video that lets you see the whole process, start to finish, with close ups and a couple of different angles? Of course not. But they will explain it very clearly, from experts who had no other good way to share information but with words. And so you get some "why" as well as "how".

And a last word about the volumes themselves. If you've held a Lost Art Press book before you know pretty much exactly what to expect. These are hard bound, with relatively heavy, high-quality paper, crisp printing and illustrations and no dust jackets. The content is all reprint, but it isn't prints of photographs of old pages. Not even the illustrations and ads. All of the text was completely re-set & re-edited. The illustrations were all scanned and meticulously cleaned up. The only exception are the handful of ad pages reproduced from the old magazine where printing errors and blotches and missing bits were retained to keep the feel of the original magazine (and probably to make it even more obvious they are context, not content, and certainly not current ads). show less

For anyone with an interest in woodworking or woodworking tools, it's worth reading Charles Hayward's "The Woodworker's Pocket Book: Recipes, Materials, Fittings, Tools, Geometry, Woodworking Data."

Having said that, one has to realize that it was originally published in 1949, so there are limitations to the book, among them an absence of reference to new tools and materials. Additionally, Hayward (1898-1998) was born in London, so there are terms that would be more familiar to speakers of show more British English than, say, speakers of American English. For example, in American English what is called a rabbet (a groove cut into the edge of a piece of material) is called a rebate in British English. Such variations drove me to look up some definitions, but there’s nothing wrong with expanding one’s vocabulary!

This pocket-sized book is one that I plan to keep handy, because even with its limitations, it has things that I expect to use in the future. Perhaps most notable for me is the geometry section (or maybe my liking is just because I’m a retired engineer and math nerd). Hayward provides excellent instructions on manual ways to draw parallel lines and on how to construct various shapes such as ellipses, hexagons and pentagons, quatrefoils, and trefoils, and arches. He also goes into developing conical surfaces and compound sloping lines – and to answer the question of “why” – imagine building a metal roof for a round birdhouse or for one with a sloping roof that also has sloping gable ends. I also liked his instructive section on miters, especially that concerning curved or decorative moldings (or “mouldings” in his English). His pages on suggested dimension ranges for different pieces of furniture should also be helpful, as should his section on decorative molding styles used in time periods from the early 17th Century into the 1800’s.

Other sections I found particularly interesting from a historical perspective. One of the early sections in the book is recipes for stains, strippers, polishes, etc. Today we are most likely to buy a commercially produced product, if for no other reason than saving time, but for anyone wanting to go back to their woodworking roots, he provides the details – assuming you can even find some of the ingredients. Hayward also included a section on some basics about various types of wood and their uses. Throughout he shows things like nails and tools that were in wider use when he wrote the book.

While I don’t plan at this point to mix my own stains from scratch or plan to give up my power tools, I’m glad I read the book and will keep it where I can find it. show less

Lost Arts Press again outdoes itself, this time with a 465-page collection of article Charles Hayward wrote for "The Woodworker," a publication based in England. Covering the man's writings from 1936-1966, this 8 1/2" by 11 1/4" tome includes everything from furniture plans and tool identification to Hayward's philosophical views on the issues of the day.
Primarily a cabinet maker, Charles was also the consummate illustrator, his plans and descriptions complete without being overly detailed. show more (There are some things one has to learn and know based on experience.)
This book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn about woodworking, whether they're a beginner or a seasoned vet- or if they just want a rich source of reading material. show less

A basic introduction to woodworking, from an age before mass market power tools. Some handy hints and tips, but can sometimes gloss over important details that would help the beginner. Some b&w photos, plus a large number of line drawings illustrate the text.