Traditional Jigs & Fixtures for Handtools: A Manual of Devices for Woodworking

Improve Your Handtool Woodworking with Traditional Jigs!

When traditional woodworkers wanted to improve the speed, accuracy and repeatability of their work, they developed clever jigs and fixtures such as shooting boards, a flexible straight edge and a grass­hopper gauge. But the vast majority of those aids were user-made and disappeared from sight when power tool woodworking took over in the 20th century. 

The result? Beginning hand-tool woodworkers today often experience unnecessary frustration because they don't know that simple shop-made aids can vastly improve their work. 

Hand Tool Jigs & Fixtures changes all that. It reintroduces traditional user-made devices, unveils others author Graham Blackburn grew up with, and expands upon those with more recent adaptations and even some manufactured items. 

Most of the user-made jigs are simple to construct and use. And once you've tried them in your shop you'll quickly see they will make all the difference between frustration and success in your woodworking. 

Graham Blackburn was born and educated in London, England, then lived for several years in Cologne and Madrid before moving to New York to continue his studies at the Juilliard School. While pursuing a career as a professional musician that saw him play in numerous bands, including Van Morrison’s, he built several homes in Woodstock, New York, including his own. His first book, Illustrated Housebuilding, was published in 1974. Since then, in addition to operating a custom furnituremaking shop in California and New York, and lecturing and teaching at major craft and art schools and woodworking shows across the US, he has been a long-time columnist for Popular Woodworking and a contributing editor to Fine Woodworking. He has also served as editor-in-chief of Woodwork magazine. He lives in Bearsville, New York.