# John A. Walton: an old friend



## AnvilJack (May 4, 2014)

Today I met an old friend. As a teenager I trained in woodwork for three years, and a seminal text of the time was "Woodwork in Theory and Practice" by John A Walton (Random House).

Today I found a new copy, a metric edition, of this book, the single most comprehensive book I have known on woodwork. It is dated, in some regards, and timeless in many.

Last edited in 1979 as a 6th edition, but last reprinted in 2007, I am delighted to find the book available and inexpensive (considering its coverage and skill level).

I bother to bring this book to the attention of forum members because it well and truly handles many of the technical skills I have seen discussed with some measure of bewilderment in various strands. Most recently this was an issue of gluing and clamping dowelled butt joints, an elementary issue that caused experienced forum contributors to stumble about in an almost embarrassing way (my embarrassment).

Walton is not full of colour, step by step pictures. No colour at all. But it is over 600 pages of truly solid instruction. And this is a rare product, today.


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## rickjb (Nov 26, 2010)

Thanks for the tip.


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## Daikusan (Apr 12, 2013)

N/a or is it Jack??
Thanks for the book review.


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## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

Link?
ISBN?


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=Woodwork+in+Theory+and+Practice&sts=t&x=0&y=0




Woodwork In Theory and Practice by Walton, J. A.: Harrap Hardcover - BoundlessBookstore


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## AnvilJack (May 4, 2014)

Woodwork in Theory and Practice (Metric Edition) John A. Walton 6th edition revised 1979, last reprint 2007 paperback ISBN 0-900882-62-X Random House 645 pages $34.99

Certainly it is available.

The text is typical of what an apprentice might have to use in the "old school" from 1950s -- 1980s. It is thorough, though, as you can see with the last update in 1979, dated. If you want to learn all the fundamental skills of furniture building, even house framing, timber, tools, all those manually constructed joints, some use of routers, etc, this is the best book I have ever seen. I wish I had one such book in metalwork, too.


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