Anybody heard of these books?

[Mark Rios]

Are these books any good?

Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets by Jim Tolpin

Building Cabinet Doors & Drawers by Danny Proulx

Or are they only good for starting fires?

I'm looking for simple cabinet door ideas. Flat (slab) cabinet doors with some sort of decorative edges. Amazon had the door book for sale coupled with the other for a "special" price. Any opinions? Any other recommendations?

Thanks very much.

[Chris Damm]

Both are well written and full of good information.

[Frank Pellow]

I don't have those specific books, but I have other books by both those authors and the books that I have are excellent. In fact, they are probably my two favourite "woodworking" authors.

[tod evans]

mark, never read them but i haven`t ever ran across a book i couldn`t learn from.......02 tod

[Lou Morrissette]

I have several of Danny Proulx's books and they are a great reference as well as educational. He will be missed.

Lou

[Brad Knabel]

I've got the Jim Tolpin book and it's excellent. He includes planning, construction and installation information. It's a little older, but there doesn't seem to be much dated information - everything I've read still seems valid. I don't have the book with me, but I know that he specifically goes through the construction of a flat door with a backing batten.

I don't have the cabinet doors and drawers book, but just ordered Danny Proulx's Build Your Own Cabinets from Amazon this morning. If you are looking for another option I noticed that Amazon's page for this book provided a "special price" for it and the Doors and Drawers book.

One last thing - Google Books has a scanned version of Jim Tolpin's book online. You can't read it page for page. But you can perform a search and look at a limited number of pages based on searches you do inside the book.

Go to

http://books.google.com

and enter the search term Jim Tolpin.

[Jerry Olexa]

Mark I have the book by Danny Proux. Good basic info. Excellent for the "first timer" and covers all the basics. Good reference book. Other book I don't know..

[Peter Lyon]

I have both and found them very useful when I built the cabinets for our home. That's not to say that I followed their every suggestion, rather that they both provide a good primer for 1st time cabinet builders.

[Dan Racette]

I have three tolpin books that I own and several that I have read from the library. Also a favorite author of mine.

I also agree with Tod. There is almost always something!!!

My library system has an online management system that allows check-outs from hundreds of libraries. Books get delivered directly to my branch. I use this method to evaluate if a purchase in warrented.

I also give money to the library because I really believe in them.

[Ken Pywell]

Try Home Depot. The one up here has carried the Tolpin book in the past. Might give you a chance to thumb through it before purchasing, to see if it has what you are looking for.
Ken

[Corey Hallagan]

I agree with the others, excellent authors, I have books by both.

Corey

[Rob Blaustein]

Have both and I'm using both them to help learn about cabinet construction. But they used somewhat different approaches/materials. Proulx is a big fan of Euro style with melamine for kitchens, Tolpin a bit more traditional. Another book I've found useful is Udo Schmidt's "Building Kitchen Cabinets." But no one book seems to have everything and they do get dated (e.g. not much advice for using undermount drawer slides). But if you search a lot here (or post questions) you'll find much good advice on these topics to supplement the books.

[Howie French]

I have Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets by Jim Tolpin.
Good book, alot of good information.

Howie

[Richard Wolf]

I have heard of Danny Proulx passing, does anyone have any more information? Was his death untimely? I didn't think he was old, but I guess that is relative sometimes. The older I get the younger everyone else seems. Remember when all policemen were older than you?

Richard

[Russ Massery]

Mark, I don't have either of those book but did look at them. They both looked like the where great. I just completed some kitchen cabinets for the SWMBO kitchen. I used UDO Schmidt's "Building kitchen cabinets" for reference. But like Rob said before no one book has all the info you need. I found help with some of the cabinet builders on this forum. Our own Steve Clardy for one helped me a great deal.;)

[Frank Pellow]

I have heard of Danny Proulx passing, does anyone have any more information? Was his death untimely? I didn't think he was old, but I guess that is relative sometimes. The older I get the younger everyone else seems. Remember when all policemen were older than you?

Richard
Richard, I have been unable to find out very much. I do know that Danny died in November 2004 and I think that his death was sudden.

I am attempting to find out more, but with no success so far.

[Rob Blaustein]

I have heard of Danny Proulx passing, does anyone have any more information? Was his death untimely? I didn't think he was old, but I guess that is relative sometimes. The older I get the younger everyone else seems. Remember when all policemen were older than you?

Richard
I don't recall the circumstances exactly, and I don't want to misinform, so take this with a grain of salt--but I thought I remember reading somewhere that he had a heart attack while attending a WW show (maybe in the parking lot?). So I think it was in fact sudden. I do recall reading that he was universally well liked, very down to earth, and very generous with his expertise. People would actually call him to ask questions and we was happy to oblige. I believe his wife is continuing to keep aspects of his business going. Very sad. I remember reading a thread on SMC a while back discussing some of this.

[Frank Pellow]

... I remember reading a thread on SMC a while back discussing some of this.
Thanks Rob, I foud the thread that you are probably talking about (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=14330) and Mike Kelly gives us a few more details there.

I can add one small thing, and that is that the Ottawa Woodworkers Association (ottawawoodworking.ca) has established an annual Danny Proulx Memorial Award and, if you go to their web site, you can find a picture of Danny's wife Gale presenting the award to the first winner.

[lou sansone]

have the tomplin book and highly recommend it
lou