Woodworking Basics

If you want to build furniture and actually understand what you’re doing, start here. Peter Korn’s Woodworking Basics is the closest thing to having a master craftsman guide you through your first weeks in the workshop.

Why Start Here

Korn founded the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine, and this book distills his introductory course into a clear, progressive sequence. You start with hand tools, learn to read wood grain, and move through essential joints like mortise-and-tenon and dovetails before touching power tools.

What sets it apart from other beginner books is the focus on understanding. Korn doesn’t just tell you where to cut. He explains why wood behaves the way it does, how to think through a design, and how to develop the hand skills that make everything else possible. By the end, you’ll have built a small bench and a cabinet, and you’ll have the foundation to tackle anything.

What to Expect

A compact, well-organized book that covers wood selection, hand tool technique, basic joinery, and machine tools. The projects are simple but real. No flashy coffee table on day one. Instead, you build fundamental skills that transfer to every project you’ll ever make.