Woodworking in Estonia by Ants Viires the 2nd Edition

 Woodworking in Estonia, recently republished by Lost Art Press, is said to be one of the most important books released on traditional woodworking in a long time. The author, Ants Viires, devoted his life to recording the hand-tool folkways of his country without a shred of romanticism. Viires combined personal interviews and direct observation of work habits with archaeological evidence and a thorough scoring of the literature in his country and surrounding nations.

If this sounds like a dry treatise, it’s not. “Woodworking in Estonia” is an important piece of evidence in understanding how our ancestors worked wood and understood it more intimately than we do. Viires records in great detail everything from the superstitions surrounding the harvesting of wood (should you whistle in the forest?) to detailed descriptions of how the Estonians dried the wood, bent it, steamed it and even buried it in horse dung to shape it for their needs.

Viires covers, in detail, the hand tools used by the Estonian, including many that will be unfamiliar to moderns (a beehive turner?). He then discusses all the different products Estonians made for their own use and for sale in the markets, including bent-wood boxes, chairs, chests, tables, sleds, carriages, spinning wheels, spoons, tobacco pipes, bowls and beer tankards.

While not a book of plans, “Woodworking in Estonia” is a source of immense inspiration for any woodworker looking to forge a close relationship with wood and the things that can be made from it.

Published by Lost Art Press