Worked: A Bench Guide to Hand-Tool Efficiency by Joshua A. Klein fills a crucial gap in woodworking instruction. Between understanding tools and following step-by-step project tutorials, there’s often something missing - how to actually use these tools effectively and confidently progress through a project with a clear understanding of efficient workflow.

In this guide, Klein delves into the "steps between the steps," offering insights into the mindset of period woodworkers as they navigate a project. He demonstrates the most efficient body postures to generate maximum power when ripping a board, how crosscutting with a saw bench combines the forces of the saw teeth and body weight to firmly secure the lumber, and why sitting on your workpiece might be the best way to hold it in place.

Rejecting complicated, hard-to-adjust work-holding methods, Klein shows how simple tools like bench hooks, pegs, body weight, and human-powered vices like the shaving horse can be used for both speed and enjoyment.

Klein also walks us through various methods of stock preparation, from processing raw billets of green wood and rough-cut lumber to the necessary dimensions. Tasks such as riving with a froe, hewing with a hatchet, heavy planing, flattening twisted boards, and breaking down lumber with rip and crosscut saws are explored in detail, showcasing the many facets of efficient workflow.

Like all Bench Guide-series books, this volume is packed with hundreds of beautifully clear photographs and detailed commentary, making it a valuable addition to any workshop.

Specifications:

• 7” x 9.5”
• Softcover
• Smythe-sewn binding and matte-coated paper
• Printed in the United States
• 168 pages

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Rethinking ‘Efficiency’
• SECTION I: STOCK PREP
  • Sawing Rough Boards
  • Planing Rough Boards
  • The Hatchet
  • Riving & Hewing Green Stock
  • Resawing
  • Edge Jointing
• SECTION II: WORKHOLDING
  • ‘Free’ Work
  • ‘Restrained’ Work
  • Case Study: Tapering a Leg
• SECTION III: WORKFLOW