Popular Woodworking has started a blog on Ridiculous Woodworking Book Titles.
A couple of the great ones are
“A Price Guide to Lie-Nielsen Boxes and Packing Materials”
“The Complete Guide To Honing Guides”
“Interesting Uses for Rarely Used Tools”
“How to win forum arguments; aka forum arguments for dummies by dummies”
and for the women woodworkers
kreg jigs guild to How to screw a stud.
And for the political woodworker
“Shooting boards and friends by Dick Cheney.
And for you LumberJock fanatics
“How to Increase Productivity When You Have Internet Access At Work”
And
“BTU Values for Exotics – A Guide for Mistake Prone Woodworkers”
And since this is Earth Day for all of the Green Woodworkers
“Solving the Energy Crisis—How to convert 1500 watts into 6.5 HP. by Sears & Roebuck”
The blog is here and you can add your own.
I realize that I’m sending you away from LumberJocks, but this is a great read.
-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

















15 comments so far
Derek Lyons
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584 posts in 1765 days
#1 posted 1518 days ago
Actually – some packing boxes and packing materials can be valuable. A friend of mine is a wheel in the world of antique model train collecting, and a few years back sold a box for nearly 10k. (It was one of two known boxes for a set from the 1920’s that only three partial examples were known to exist.)
Most of the ‘collectibles’ being sold today are going to be valueless in the future because everyone is keeping them.
-- Derek, Bremerton WA --
WayneC
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9589 posts in 2294 days
#2 posted 1518 days ago
LOL. I was going to respond that I had saved all my LN boxes….
: ^ )
-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov
Kindlingmaker
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2650 posts in 1723 days
#3 posted 1518 days ago
Thanks Karson! Nearing the end of a long day, a good chuckle was needed!
-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings
cabinetmaster
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10874 posts in 1755 days
#4 posted 1517 days ago
Absolutely agrre with kindlingmaker…........good laugh.
-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps
a1Jim
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89032 posts in 1774 days
#5 posted 1517 days ago
Here’s some weird titles
“Jigs for left handed pink french door stops 2nd edition”plus “The compete guide to waxing your turtle” “how to train your dogs not to cheat at cards” “Woodworkers guide to auto repair while carving” “how to avoid friendly people while bowling” How to interrogate your neighbors cat”“avoiding trees with bad attitudes.
“How to Uninstall screens doors in you submarine under water” Seven steps to cleaner dirt”” choosing the correct deodorant by taste”” How to draw air with you eyes closed”” fleas not just for circuses any more”How to itch your ear while rowing a boat and eating a banana”” ducks in history”“How nose hair effects your jogging ””How snakes ride bikes”what gorillas do in the mist”” 37 things LJ can stand for”“recipes for things you don’t eat”“Sleeping the plague of the century”“what flies think about”“Sawdust the perfect salt substitute”
-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/
miles125
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2175 posts in 2202 days
#6 posted 1517 days ago
What about “Nakashima machinery crates, the Chinese sweatshop days”.
-- "The way to make a small fortune in woodworking- start with a large one"
Dan'um Style
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10960 posts in 2179 days
#7 posted 1514 days ago
what about “handmade CNC woodworking methods”
-- keeping myself entertained
Dan'um Style
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10960 posts in 2179 days
#8 posted 1508 days ago
How about woodworking for Eskimos ?
-- keeping myself entertained
miles125
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2175 posts in 2202 days
#9 posted 1508 days ago
What about “Glueless violin making with pocket screws”?
-- "The way to make a small fortune in woodworking- start with a large one"
miles125
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2175 posts in 2202 days
#10 posted 1508 days ago
Or maybe “Particleboard Heirlooms”.
-- "The way to make a small fortune in woodworking- start with a large one"
Dan'um Style
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10960 posts in 2179 days
#11 posted 1508 days ago
Woodturning with an electric drill and screw driver
-- keeping myself entertained
Dan'um Style
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10960 posts in 2179 days
#12 posted 1508 days ago
What about … Woodworking for Couch Potatoes
-- keeping myself entertained
Bob #2
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3808 posts in 2218 days
#13 posted 1508 days ago
Karson , your are a very intelligent and funny guy.
I hope everyone else can see into your warped comedic mind too.
Bob
-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner
Grumpy
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17943 posts in 2048 days
#14 posted 1502 days ago
On a Plumber’s truck:
‘We repair what your husband fixed.’
On another Plumber’s truck:
‘Don’t sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.’
-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python
Dan'um Style
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10960 posts in 2179 days
#15 posted 1502 days ago
British industry magazine ‘The Bookseller’ has opened voting for the oddest book title of the year, some of which suggest that nothing is stranger than non-fiction.
Readers of the magazine’s website www.thebookseller.com are being invited to vote on a shortlist of six non-fiction books in its annual Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year.
The nominations are made by publishers, booksellers and librarians from around the world.
The nominees are:
- Tattooed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan
- How Green Were the Nazis?
- D Di Mascio’s Delicious Ice Cream: D Di Mascio of Coventry – An Ice Cream Company of Repute, with an Interesting and Varied Fleet of Ice Cream Vans
- The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification
- Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Seaweed Symposium
- Better Never To Have Been: The Harm of Coming Into Existence
Joel Rickert, deputy editor of The Bookseller, told BBC radio today: “It’s the only literary prize where the content of the book doesn’t matter a jot.
“So, there’s still hope for Salman Rushdie or Martin Amis if they’re worried about the Booker (prize). All they’ve got to do is give their books an odd title and they’re in with a shot.”
Last year’s winner was People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead: How They Attach Themselves To Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It, by Gary Leon Hill.
The competition has been running since 1978, when the winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice
-- keeping myself entertained
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