Authentic Shaker Furniture: 10 Projects You Can Build (Classic American Furniture Series) [Paperback]

Kerry Pierce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004 | Series: Classic American Furniture Series

The Classic American Furniture Series is designed to acquaint our readers with the history, design and methods of construction of the most popular styles of furniture making. Each book contains furniture projects that include facts and history about the piece, technical illustrations, cutting and hardware lists of parts needed for the piece, along with step-by-step photos with captions demonstrating how to build each piece of furniture. The classic grace of the Shaker style is captured in twenty timeless furniture projects in this new book by master craftsman Kerry Pierce. With step-by-step photos and Pierce's clear instruction, readers will discover how to build each unique creation, including an armed rocker and a straight back chair; a drop-leaf table and a sewing desk; hanging boxes, bentwood boxes, clothes hangers and more. Beginning and advanced woodworkers alike will find creative inspiration and helpful instruction in this guide to gorgeous and stylish furniture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kerry Pierce has been a professional woodworker for more than twenty years. He is the author of several books, including The Wood Stash Project Book. He teaches his woodworking skills and his pieces are on display in galleries and exhibits throughout the USA.

Product Details

• Paperback: 126 pages
• Publisher: Popular Woodworking Books (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558706577
• ISBN-13: 978-1558706576
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,001,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After earning a bachelor's degree in English from Bowling Green State University (and later a master's in art from Ohio University, Kerry Pierce simultaneously began two careers, working for 32 years as a teacher of secondary English and working for 35 years as a furniture maker and writer specializing in Shaker and Shaker-inspired work. He's the author of 18 books, five of which focus on Shaker furniture and woodenware. One of the most recent of these-- "Pleasant Hill Shaker Furniture"-- is the first book-length study of that community's melding of the Shaker aesthetic and the rural traditions of Kentucky furniture. The most recent of his Shaker titles is "Storage and Shelving the Shaker Way", the first book-length presentation of the ingenious methods by which Shaker craftsmen brought order to their physical world. His next book-- "Hand Planes in the Modern Shop"-- will be published in the Fall of 2010.

Two of his Shaker titles--"Pleasant Hill Shaker Furniture" and "Making Shaker Woodenware"--have been translated into German.

Positive reviews of his books--in particular "The Custom Furniture Sourcebook" and "Pleasant Hill Shaker Furniture"--have appeared in The Columbus Dispatch, The Chicago Daily Herald, and many other other papers. In addition positive reviews have appeared in Woodshop News, Popular Woodworking, Library Journal, Canadian Woodworking and other magazines. They have also received positive reviews in many web publications.

Twenty-two of his 150+ magazine articles (for Woodwork, Popular Woodworking, Woodcraft, Woodshop News, and The Woodworker's Journal and others) focus on this genre of woodworking.

He served as Contributing Editor of Woodwork magazine from 1995-2007.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Satisfying Challenge, January 10, 2008

By 

John W. Barrett (Oreland, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Authentic Shaker Furniture: 10 Projects You Can Build (Classic American Furniture Series) (Paperback)

As a rather novice level woodworker, I bought this book primarily because of the subtitle, "10 projects you can build." "No big deal," I thought. A quick trip to the lumber yard and a few casual hours in the shop and I'd be napping in my new rocker. Actually starting on the projects, however, has been like being sucked into an unexpectedly rewarding and demanding contest with large pieces of wood. What the title doesn't mention (and probably wisely so) is that the most desirable pieces in the book require you to make a variety of jigs and tooling - from scratch - in order to decently build the projects. A fair sample of these jigs and tooling (e.g., post bending form, side rung mortise jig, front rung mortise jig, box molds, lid molds, slat bender, etc.) now hang from the rafters of my rather small shop and threaten the safety of my skull on a regular basis. However, I don't think that the process of building these pieces would have been as pleasurable, or even possible, without acquiring the skills learned in the process of building the tooling. Kerry is a great teacher and his style is easy and encouraging. He helps you to believe that you really can build these projects. I now own four or five of his books (if my shop were less "crowded" I'd be sure of the number) and enjoy both the prose and the projects in each. I believe that this guy is top rate and would strongly recommend his work to anyone looking to learn and/or improve on their skills. I hope that you all enjoy his work as much as I do.

3.0 out of 5 stars Four chairs?, November 1, 2010

By 

Brian M. Geyer (Pomfret, CT United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Authentic Shaker Furniture: 10 Projects You Can Build (Classic American Furniture Series) (Paperback)

The projects in the book are well detailed with both photographs and excellent writing, but there is not much variety in the projects. I found the chairs repetitive (and largely unnecessary, once you built one, the others were modest modifications). It would have been great to see this talented author expand the breadth of Shaker projects.

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK, December 16, 2009

By 

Barbara J. Gray "John Gray" (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Authentic Shaker Furniture: 10 Projects You Can Build (Classic American Furniture Series) (Paperback)

I own this book and it is really a good one. I like it so much that I signed up for a class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking with Kerry Pierce where we will build the candle stand shown in the book.