Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years

"Honest Labour" is a collection of essays from The Woodworker magazine while the legendary Charles H. Hayward was editor (1936–1966). It is the fifth and final volume in the Lost Art Press series from The Woodworker.

The series was originally planned as four books covering tools, techniques, joinery, and the workshop and furniture plans. But while paging through the magazine, the editors kept getting stuck on the "Chips From the Chisel" column at the beginning of every issue. The columns are filled with poetry, historical characters and observations on nature, and yet they all speak to our work at the bench and to the place of handwork in modern society. The column was unsigned, but the publisher is convinced it was written by Hayward himself.

Kara Gebhart Uhl selected the best columns. The essays are organized year by year, and each chapter opens with a short piece on the major events of that year, giving important context; even woodworking writing is different in wartime. Every spread holds one column, illustrated with line drawings from the magazine of the same year, most of them by Hayward. The book is like a book of favourite poems to pick up for a moment, for example in front of the fire after a long day of work.

Facts:
Edited by Kara Gebhart Uhl
474 pages, the largest book in The Woodworker series
Same manufacturing specs as the other books in the series
Language English