Woodworking in Estonia, Ants Viires (book)

Woodworking in Estonia by Ants Viires is one of Roy Underhill's three favorite woodworking books. Translated into English without the author's permission in the late 1960s, it has been a cult classic ever since. According to Underhill it is "one of the best books on folk woodworking ever", and it covers the entire woodworking history of this small Northern European nation from pre-historical times through occupation by the Germans and Soviets up to Estonian independence.

Viires devoted his life to recording the hand-tool folkways of his country without a shred of romanticism, combining personal interviews and direct observation of work habits with archaeological evidence and a thorough study of the literature. He records everything from the superstitions surrounding the harvesting of wood (should you whistle in the forest?) to how the Estonians dried wood, bent it, steamed it and even buried it in horse dung to shape it. He covers the hand tools used, including many that will be unfamiliar today, and all the products Estonians made for their own use and for sale: bent-wood boxes, chairs, chests, tables, sleds, carriages, spinning wheels, spoons, tobacco pipes, bowls and beer tankards.

While not a book of plans, it is a source of immense inspiration for any woodworker looking to forge a close relationship with wood. Lost Art Press secured the rights from the author before his death in 2015 and commissioned the first authorized English translation from the 1996 Estonian edition, with more than 240 crisp, original photos and line drawings.

Hardbound, 304 pages on heavy paper stock, sewn and reinforced with fiber tape, cotton cloth cover with foil diestamp. Published by Lost Art Press and produced entirely in the United States.