Popular Woodworking Editors' Blog

All the editors here at Popular Woodworking have a disease that causes woodworking fever. We each have more tools, when, if put in one place, would rival any home-improvement store’s inventory. We love putting tools to wood and making shavings and sawdust, out of which rises some amazing projects. Between us, we’ve build just about everything there is to make out of wood — including fruit. That got us to thinking — what do our readers like to make?

We decided to see what are our top 3, best-selling woodworking books for the past couple of years or so. I was surprised to find that outdoor woodworking projects head the list. That included benches (sitting and potting), fences, walkways and covered cooking areas.

Next was reference stuff, like furniture design (what is the standard height of a bar stool?), wood (is oak the right wood for bending?), fasteners (how long is a 3d nail [what is a “d” anyway?]), what’s the difference between a wood screw and a sheet-metal screw and what the heck is a 1/4-20x1-1/2” bolt?), is 60-grit sandpaper rougher or smoother than 120-grit sandpaper, what is polyurethane (I call it poly-raz-ma-taz) and where can I find any or all of this stuff?

Small projects seemed to be the order of the year(s). They’re small (you can use your wood scraps), you get to use all kinds of joinery and you can use power tools and hand tools to make them. Oh, and they’re fun to make and give as gifts (I keep several boxes around for just that reason — I don’t have to run out to find just the “right” gift).

Check out the number-one bestseller, Beautiful Wooden Projects for Outdoor Living. Then, Popular Woodworking’s Pocket Shop Reference and Box by Box. If you don’t have these books in your library, now is your chance to add them to your collection. Don't forget to check out all of our woodworking books at the Popular Woodworking Bookstore.

Keep makin’ sawdust.

Jim Stack, Senior Editor for Popular Woodworking Books
mail to: jim.stack@fwmedia.com