The Minimalist Woodworker: Essential Tools & Smart Shop Ideas for Building With Less

by Vic Tesolin

Woodworking is thriving in the hands-on, DIY, maker world we currently live in. Yet, for it’s increasing popularity, there are many crafters who don’t engage in woodworking because they falsely believe you need a large workshop and a full-blown collection of tools and equipment. The Minimalist Woodworker is about eliminating this myth. To enjoy woodworking, all you need is a few essential tools, a little bit of space, and the desire to make something with your own two hands. The Minimalist Woodworker is about making woodworking clean and simple – from the tools and the workspace to the easy-to-follow instructions. It eliminates the fears and excuses as it demystifies the craft. Written by Vic Tesolin, aka the Minimalist Woodworker, a woodworker and woodworking instructor, The Minimalist Woodworker is a stress-free approach for the hobbyist that emphasizes the destination is actually the journey. Beginning with an understanding of the minimalist mindset, The Minimalist Woodworker quickly details how to make a small space productive and outlines the most efficient tools for a woodworker. Each piece of equipment is explained and instructions on how to use are provided. Techniques for keeping them sharp and maintained are also explained. Once space and tools are covered, seven projects are a saw bench and matching saw horse, a Nicholson-style workbench, a shooting board/bench hook, a shop mallet, and a small hanging cabinet. Each project not only develops woodworking skills, but also outfits The Minimalist Woodworker’s small shop. With step-by-step instruction, photos and illustrations, and an easy-going voice, The Minimalist Woodworker offers a stress-free point of entry into the life-long craft of woodworking.

Genres: Woodwork, Nonfiction, Reference, Crafts

151 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2015

Reviews

[Emily Carlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

good, useful

[Nathanael Coyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first 60 pages are Vic's thoughts and advice on the bare essentials to work with wood; he really pares it down to just a handful of tools and emphasises being smart about what and how you build using traditional techniques and jigs that we've largely replaced with our work centres and powered routers. Power tools are useful for doing some things faster but they aren't essential, and using hand tools alone gives you the benefits of some quiet time on weekends without needing earmuffs or dust extraction systems for your table saw and belt sander.

The rest of Vic's book contains plans, cut lists and step-by-step photos of how to make some of the jigs and a Nicholson-style workbench; crisp, close-up, top-quality photos that have taught me some new skills so I found this section very useful.

If you've heard of Vic Tesolin before then you probably know he works with Veritas and there's no hiding that he uses a lot of Veritas tools including planes, holdfasts, plane stops, marking gauges etc. Not exclusively, but you'd guess he's either a big fan of Lee Valley, or he works with them. It's no big deal - he avoids mentioning his relationship with them instead they're referred to as "a prominent woodworking retailer" and there is zero sales pitch in this book.

I think this book is a good companion to Christopher Schwarz's article or DVD "Coarse, Medium and Fine" which I also recently watched.

[Read Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I am finding more time to do some carpentry work. I saw this book and decided to take it for a spin. Makes we wonder what I have all those power tools around for? Then I think, to save me some time and exercise. But the point of this book is to "embrace the 'character' in your work and keep on learning."

It would only enhance my projects to get back to simpler tools and employ good woodworking skills. There are many great tips on why things are done the way they are. There are some simple projects that you are likely to find to be a joy to build. So, I will be getting my supplies together and starting a project or two. But I will likely still be using my power tools, just maybe not as often I as I have in the past.

Have a GoodReads.

[André · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I wanted it to be. A good introduction, good theory and great examples. Have already implemented some of his techniques and will try to keep things simple going forward. It can be overwhelming the amount of tools/power tools available to us these days and less and less time, space and money, it's important to stick to the basics and maximize the use and efficiency of what you already own.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vic Tesolin does a great job presenting clear instructions and a minimal tool set for the beginning woodworker, but this book could have used some more time in editing and a stronger authorial voice.

I wanted to like this more than I did. Minimalism appeals to me, and I consider myself a minimalist in many areas of my life. I expected (and wanted) this book to rail against the current social norms that tells us that we _need_ a 2000 sq. ft. shop, a huge table saw, a jointer, a drum sander, a router table, and so on in order to be real woodworkers. But it really didn't. Instead it was a reasonable discussion of how it is possible to do plenty with less, and how a few workhorse tools can really allow anyone to craft basic furniture without a big shop. It's certainly not bad, but it came off as a bit dry to me. It's a good step-by-step instruction book of how to be a minimalist woodworker, but without much philosophy of why. Of course, this is personal preference, and other people might really appreciate the balanced viewpoint here.

In addition, there are some fairly large mistakes in the book. On a casual read, I caught at least one type that could have been caught by a spellchecking program. Worse, on one of the projects (the shop mallet), the author tells us to shape the handle with a spokeshave - which is not in the list of tools presented in the minimalist's tool set! On the same project, there are some missing steps, because when the tutorial wraps up, we still haven't attached the head of the mallet to the handle.

In spite of those problems, I did like the book. It is a good reminder that we don't need more to do more. I especially liked seeing some of the minimalist shops/workstations, and wish that he had gone into that even more, since the vast majority of woodshop tours we have available are massive shop spaces revolving around machine work. The projects are great and carefully detailed with useful pictures - I'll certainly be building some of them. The workbench in particular sticks out as a fantastic simple bench that can do anything you might need of a bench without being bogged down in bells and whistles or difficult to build. It doesn't even have a vise, but the author shows us how to be effective with it anyway.

Overall, it's a good book, but I personally feel that it could have been even better with some relatively minor changes.

[Zach Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm mixed about this book. It reads more appropriately for a beginning woodworker, but misses beginning woodworking points I felt. The differences in bevel up and bevel down planes is never explained, or one initially recommended over the other. Later in the book, the bevel up is recommended for shooting do to the lower cutting angle. The book recommends bits for a brace and bit, but doesn't mention checking the spurs or point to make sure you buy a decent one that isn't useless. The mallet project uses a tool (spoke shave) that isn't in the recommended kit. It has some others tools (double square, saddle square, flush cut saw) pictured throughout the book and instructed to use that also aren't in the tool kit. I did pick up one idea that I found to be fantastic, which is the sharpening bucket for water stones. But the book says Vic can flatten the water stone by simply dunking it in water. Huh?

The projects are all solid, useful, straightforward items that are recommended for all hand tool woodworkers. There aren't a ton of them, but that's the whole theme of the book. The tools recommended provide for a very simple kit, but workable for most furniture and smaller projects. The power tools recommended are exactly what someone who does mostly hand tools would need to add flair to a project or save some muscle on mindless drudgery (thicknessing, long rips, hogging out mortise waste or mass hole drilling).

Overall, this isn't a great book, but it isn't bad either. There is a solid quantity of good info and some confusing info. With the proliferation of hand tools right now and the internet, a reader would be able to fill in the confusing bits themselves.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy it, I can't say that I didn't. I missed that it was wasn't as beginner oriented, but I guess that's fair- the book never claims to be for beginners, it just claims to explore minimalist options, rather than a power-tool oriented workshop. I did feel that even if some of the vocabulary and plans were outside my level of expertise, there could still have been a little bit more focus on the techniques of using some of the hand tools. He jumps right into projects, and most of the techniques you can figure out from his limited photos and explanations, but there's other basics that I feel a woodworker would be used to doing with a power-tool, but that really weren't covered.

Overall, I think I'll have to up my knowledge of the overall subject and then return to this book. Maybe then my opinion might be higher, as it's possibly just that I don't have enough experience to understand the concepts he puts across in the book. But at this stage I feel there are probably better books out there on the subject. Not bad though.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book you want if you're looking to dip a toe into handtool woodworking. It's the book I wish I had picked up first. You're going to get a rundown on the tools you need, an overview on taking care of them, and plans for a few basic shop appliances. After that, it's the perfect place to dive into another book that gets deeper into technique and design.

After reading Fidgen's "Unplugged Workshop", this seemed to be much more of a book geared toward beginners. The terminology is better explained. The tools are the bare minimum. The book is written with the beginner in mind, as opposed to Fidgen's, which seems more geared toward folks making the change from a hybrid style to a completely by-hand style.

If you're interested in handtool woodworking give this book a try, and supplement heavily with videos from Paul Sellers, Christopher Schwarz, and Shannon Rogers (The Renaissance Woodworker). Afterward, just follow your interests and dive a little deeper with the next book.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a three day bookcase building class as my introduction to woodworking, at a shop with all the big tools (planer, jointer, table and chop saws, sanders, routers, sawdust removal system...). This book was my next step. Right now it makes no sense for me to buy a lot of large power tools. What I needed was an introduction focused on hand tools, the most important power tools, and managing a small work space. This has all that, beautifully organized and illustrated. The five projects in it are designed to build skills while also building a useful little shop -- a saw bench and bent, a shooting board hook, a wooden mallet, a workbench, and a hanging cabinet.

[Adam MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish it had more plans that involved low initial investment. Be prepared to spend more than $1000 in planes and other tools before you even build your first saw bench.

Otherwise, informative enough to give me a good general knowledge of types of hand tools and their applications.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done, look forward to putting the ideas into practice.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know much about woodworking but at least I know a little more than I did before! Informative and some good designs which I'll be trying in the short future.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In order to understand, you must do."