Walter Rose was a master carpenter and the son and grandson of master carpenters, and he writes of village carpentry as it was practised in Buckinghamshire by his family and their men in Victorian times. Their definition of carpentry was wider than ours, and covered practically all the woodworking done except wheelwright's work. This book touches upon water and windmill repairs, farm and house carpentry, timber buying, work in the saw yard, making field gates and haymaking tools, coffins and much more.

It is not so much a technical record as the sensitive reminiscences of a craftsman; of the community spirit and the attitudes to their work and to their neighbours. It will be of great interest to readers who work with wood or to those who simply have an appreciation for the spirit of carftsmanship and the craftsmen who unfailingly produced honest work.

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