Woodworking book reviews

[Bill Wyko]

Lately I've been on a book buying spree. I picked up one on inlace techniques, another on wood burning along with a few others. I thought we might review books here that have had a big influence on our techniques and style. 2 books that come to mind for me are "Woodturning with Ray Allen" and the book by Malcolm Tibbetts, "The art of segmented wood turning" Both are incredibly useful if you want to attempt segmented turning. Between the 2 you can go from the basics to some of the most advanced turning methods imaginable. Malcolm goes into great detail on how to turn out of the box and really look at turning in ways not normally considered. The book on Ray's work has beautiful color pictures along with a wonderful 1,2,3, step by step build of a segmented vessel. Both books are informative and extremely great reads.
Now the question goes to you guys, what books were your go to books for info and technique?

[richard poitras]

Bill, one book you may want to look at is “Laminated Designs in Wood by Clarence Rannefeld” it is a book on laminated designs similar to segmented turning design projects but only on horizontal surfaces. It would probably give you some inspiration for some of your humidors, not that you need it. :)
This book can be hard to find but I checked it out first threw my local library (they had to Melcad it from out of state) but once I looked at it I liked it so much I ended up finding a used one on the web.
Also what book did you get on inlace techniques and was it any good?

Thanks Richard

[Bill Wyko]

Thanks Richard, I'm going to look for it right now. Anyone else have a favorite woodworking book?

[Neil Brooks]

Thanks Richard, I'm going to look for it right now. Anyone else have a favorite woodworking book?

Yeah.

The series by Tage Frid. I built up a very good collection of used WW books, but ... if you were only going to buy one (set), I'd have trouble thinking of anything that goes over so much, so well.

[Bill Wyko]

WOW, they sure are proud of the out of print books. On Amazon it's used for a hundred bucks. I'll keep looking but that is definitely a book I want to get my hands on.

[Albert T. Tappman]

WOW, they sure are proud of the out of print books. On Amazon it's used for a hundred bucks. I'll keep looking but that is definitely a book I want to get my hands on.
Volumes 1 & 2 are available in a single book for about $20. Not sure what edition you're finding? Here's a link: Tage Frid (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1561580686).

FWIW I don't find the Tage Frid books very helpful, and the typography and photos are absolutely painful. Maybe volume 3 on furniture making is better, I haven't read that one.

Having read a bunch of the Taunton Press books my opinion is that there isn't a single one that's markedly better than the others. Most are just glossy brochures, or haphazard collections of Fine Woodworking articles. The one I liked best was "Woodworking Basics" by Peter Korn. It tries to teach a few basic techniques in a detailed and well written way, rather than list every exotic joint known to man, or every router table trick ever invented.

[Bill Wyko]

Here's the one I came across. Totally different books.
http://www.amazon.com/Laminated-Designs-Wood-Techniques-Patterns/dp/1579900216/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304640927&sr=8-1

[richard poitras]

Bill the laminate book sold new for $19.95 I think I got mine for around $30.00. If you check different use book sites you can find it a lot cheaper than Amazon.

Good Luck
Richard

[Mitchell Garnett]

I recommend bookfinder.com when searching for books. They'll point you to the lowest prices.

[Richard Gonzalez]

I received the "Laminated Designs in Wood" book at our Woodworking Guild Holiday party as part of the "white elephant" gift exchange. I would definitely try to get it from the library (the librarian can get it through an interlibrary loan) before I went to a lot of effort to buy one. Ask for ISBN 1-57990-021-6

It is very technical and not as technique oriented, although it does show the jig that the author uses (you would have to recreate from the figure, no plans are given). Most of the content are symbolic diagrams of the patterns obtained by repeated cuts and glue together. I would not rank it up there among the best woodworking books I have. It might be for math geeks.

See the attached sample page.

[Richard Gonzalez]

One book I seldom see mentioned, but to me is one of the best for sheer amount of information contained is "Nick Engler's Woodworking Wisdom, The Ultimate Guide to Cabinetry and Furniture Making". It is lavishly illustrated, has a ton of great info, and ends each section with a very good list of references to even more information that you can follow up with. I bought it hardcover on Amazon for about 8 bucks (used), but there are only higher priced copies on Amazon now. I bought it after coming across it at my local library.

Highly recommended.

[John Nesmith]

Popular Woodworking just had an article about what the consider the top woodworking books. http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/the-craft-classics-in-just-5

Several dozen were listed. Also, they polled many well known woodworkers for their own personal favorites. If you don't subscribe, you can download the latest issue for $6. It's a very interesting, and very thorough list.

[richard poitras]

I received the "Laminated Designs in Wood" book at our Woodworking Guild Holiday party as part of the "white elephant" gift exchange. I would definitely try to get it from the library (the librarian can get it through an interlibrary loan) before I went to a lot of effort to buy one. Ask for ISBN 1-57990-021-6

It is very technical and not as technique oriented, although it does show the jig that the author uses (you would have to recreate from the figure, no plans are given). Most of the content are symbolic diagrams of the patterns obtained by repeated cuts and glue together. I would not rank it up there among the best woodworking books I have. It might be for math geeks.

See the attached sample page.

I am not trying to push this book on anyone about the lamination but I did find it very informative. If you go to the INCRA site in Perry’s Tool Zone and look in the archived articles you will find a section on using the INCRA Build it System to make a sled similar to the one in the design lamination book and it also shows you the concept behind the book and designs.

The Lamination Pro - by Lloyd Johnson (http://incra.com/product_perryzone_lloydjohnson.htm) - 08.17.08

Richard