{"id":8926,"date":"2026-09-11T19:34:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T23:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/?p=8926"},"modified":"2026-09-11T19:34:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T23:34:03","slug":"authors-from-whom-i-learned-the-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/11\/authors-from-whom-i-learned-the-most\/","title":{"rendered":"Authors from whom I learned the most"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Time goes on for all, but I would like to list the woodworking greats from whom I learned the most<\/strong>, particularly in the earlier years of my development. These are among the many more from whom I learned and still do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

James Krenov<\/strong> (1920 – 2009): I think there is no more influential woodworker for those who make unique pieces of their own design. His first three books (of five) helped form and guide what I really wanted out of woodworking and where I was going with it. Having only met him once in the early 1980s at a show-and-talk lecture, I still feel his influence in the shop.<\/p>\n

Earnest Scott<\/strong> (I cannot find life years) and author group of the book: Working in Wood<\/em>. I got this book the year it was published, 1980, and from it, I got more serious about woodworking after years of low-key enjoyment. I also moved up to more serious hand-cut joinery as Fine Woodworking Magazine<\/em> helped me along.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ian J. Kirby<\/strong> (1932 – 2022): Master woodworker and author of many books and articles. My favorite: Making Joints<\/em>. Also, he wrote perhaps my all time favorite Fine Woodworking Magazine<\/em> articles. I would say his theme was: do it correctly and you can do it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tage Frid<\/strong> (1915 – 2004): Here was a way to cover most of the woodworking skills I needed. His three books are over 40 years old and I still refer to them. Probably no one taught America woodworking more than Tage Frid. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bob Flexner<\/strong> (1940 – 2024): There is no more clear, accurate, and complete wood finishing explanation and how-to work to be found than his books and detailed articles. His main book is invaluable. I also use one of his other books of assembled articles \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

R. Bruce Hoadley<\/strong> (1933 – 2019): a professor of wood science and a member of the Fine Woodworking Magazine<\/em> group from the start in 1975. His main book, Understanding Wood<\/em>, first out in 1980 and redone in 2000, did just that for me. I always felt that until I really understood the nature and science of wood, I could not be a good woodworker. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Charles H. Hayward<\/strong> (1898 – 1998): the author\/contributor of at least 30 books and hundreds of magazine articles. Yet, it is the little 126 page book, Woodwork Joints <\/em>(1975), that covered for me so much of hand-cut joinery. I had to study it a lot. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Much of the technique explanations in these early books actually can be updated. Yet we have excellent sources of all sorts<\/strong> – magazines, books, online video and writing, classes, and schools. For me, it was books and FWW magazine that advanced me from hacking on my own.<\/p>\n

There was more<\/strong>. From the old A&P supermarket stores, my family got the series of books Mechanix Illustrated How-To-Do-It Encyclopedia<\/em> 16-volume series from 1961. Lots of woodworking was in the series. I recall lying on the carpet looking at page after page before I went to the basement, sometimes as a little kid with family help.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And I have been enjoying it<\/strong> ever since.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time goes on for all, but I would like to list the woodworking greats from whom I learned the most, particularly in the earlier years of my development. These are among the many more from whom I learned and still do.\u00a0 James Krenov (1920 – 2009): I think there is no more influential woodworker for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8926"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8932,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926\/revisions\/8932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}