About the book
What did a home workshop look like in 1915? A. Hyatt Verrill’s The Amateur Carpenter starts with tools and their care, then moves through building a workbench, arranging a workshop, making joints, sharpening tools and understanding timber. Later chapters discuss household repairs, simple furniture, rustic carpentry, small buildings and woodworking machinery.
The historical diagrams sit beside the relevant text. Verrill explains that they are not drawn to one uniform scale, and figure numbering restarts within chapters. This is a period handbook with practical interests, not a modern set of certified construction plans.
This HIPS Books edition contains the original introduction and all fourteen chapters in a 124-page A4 PDF. Modern chapter guides and vocabulary precede the historical chapters; a glossary and safety notes help readers understand unfamiliar tools, materials and terminology. They are clearly labelled editorial additions, not words by Verrill.
Historical recipes include hazardous chemicals, while some projects involve machinery, overhead structures and exercise equipment. Those passages are retained for historical study, not endorsed as modern instructions. Any practical project needs current tool and product guidance, appropriate training and an assessment of its actual loads and conditions.
What this edition includes
124 A4 pages; original introduction and fourteen chapters; historical diagrams beside their text; chapter guides and vocabulary before each chapter; glossary; modern safety notes; clickable contents and PDF bookmarks. Original measurements are historical information, not endorsed modern specifications.
Inside the book: selected contents
A reading overview, not the complete text.
- Tools and Their Care: the period’s basic hand-tool kit and its maintenance.
- How to Make a Workbench; Fitting Up the Workshop: arranging a place to work and hold timber.
- Learning to Make Joints; Sharpening Tools: the language of joinery and edged tools.
- Woods and Their Properties: timber selection and historical finishing methods.
- Carpentry About the House; Making Simple Furniture: repair work and household projects.
- Rustic Carpentry, Small Buildings and Machinery: historical examples requiring modern safety and structural assessment.
Key concepts for reading
HIPS editorial explanations of the historical text.
- Mortise and tenon: a joint in which a projecting tenon fits a corresponding recess.
- Dovetail: interlocking shaped parts used in joinery.
- Mitre-box: a guide used to control the angle of a saw cut.
- Period dimensions: original measurements, not a substitute for checking an actual design.
- Historical recipes: retained for study; use current labelled products rather than copying hazardous formulas.
Before you buy
How is this different from an archive scan?
An archive scan preserves photographed pages. This is a prepared reading edition: reset text and modern reading support, with the historical author’s words kept distinct. The edition details and preview pages above show what is included in this particular book.
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