Building Beautiful Boxes with Your Band Saw [Paperback]

Lois Ventura (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000

Insight and Inspiration

Fluid, elegant and unique, Lois Keener Ventura's boxes elevate woodworking to a contemporary art form. You can capture the same effects in your own work following this guide's step-by-step band saw techniques.

Whether you want to recreate these boxes as they appear here or add your own distinctive variations, this book provides the instruction and inspiration you need. From cutting to finishing, you'll find patterns, photos and clear directions that make every step easy to achieve with basic tools and materials.

Projects begin simply and progress into more elaborate designs, allowing you to build your skills as you build each new box. Best of all, these boxes are as practical as they are stunning, making them perfect pieces to sell or give as gifts.

"There's an artist that hides in the heart of every woodworker, waiting for that one inspiration to set him free."—Lois Keener Ventura

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Betterway Books (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558705228
• ISBN-13: 978-1558705227
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #831,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Building Beautiful Boxes with Your Band Saw, June 22, 2000

By 

Mary Gentry (Espanola, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building Beautiful Boxes with Your Band Saw (Paperback)

This is a great book if you are a novice woodworker or an intermediate level woodworker new to using a band saw. This is an instructional book that does not leave out some key instructions that could leave you hanging half way through a project. It spells out clearly everything you need to know to make a gorgeous band saw box.

There are fourteen projects in the book, complete with patterns and finishing instructions. The author takes you through all the steps to complete one of the projects, including design aspects, choosing the wood, a list of necessary materials, and suggested mail order sources.

The book is filled with color photos that show every stage of the project, making it very interesting and easy to understand the text.

I have a large number of "how to" woodworking books and I would rate this one as being one of the best!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 tools, November 14, 2003

By 

Hard Maple "raptoro" (McCall, ID USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building Beautiful Boxes with Your Band Saw (Paperback)

With this book and 4 tools, you will become an instant craftsman (in your own mind at least). Lois Ventura will show even a novice (a little experience in the required tools is necessary) how to create magnificent artful boxes using just a bandsaw, jointer (although you can always substitute a sander and time for this), a belt sander and a palm sander. Thanx to this book, I'm turning $100 into $500-$700 worth of Christmas presents (already own the tools).

Best book I've ever purchased. And yes, her listed designs are similar to each other. That is because she is working within a style. She creates flowing natural shapes that are inspired by the nature that brings us the materials we use. As no straight lines and right angles appear in nature, neither do they in her designs.

In the 4 years since I have bought this book, I no longer build Ventura-style patterns (since so many others are doing them and not giving Lois credit). But I am using her techniques to great effect with my own patterns. With the slightest imagination, you can develop your own patterns. I do cars, trucks, semis, animals, butterflies and more things. Creativity is crucial to avoiding the slow death of repetition that plagues woodworking. This book is no exception. And I continue to give this book 5/5 stars.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for learning from a Pro....., January 11, 2003

By 

KRASSEL (SPANAWAY, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Building Beautiful Boxes with Your Band Saw (Paperback)

I received this book as a Christmas gift and was immediatly impressed with the photography and layout of the book. Ms Ventura is a fine writer and waste's no time in getting you hooked into the art of bandsaw boxes. I had often admired boxes made with bandsaws but had not quite figured out how the whole process was accomplished. This book covers it all, equipment and tools needed, selecting materials, laminating, layout, cutting and finishing. The resource section is a bonus. As an added bonus she supplies you with the templates for a good number of her famous designs, with tips to allow you to accomplish the fit and finish they each deserve. They are all designed to be made with a standard 14" bandsaw and one of the best hints is, she use's one blade for everything. She suggests alternate methods for shaping and sanding if you do not possess some of the machines that she routinely uses and encourages you to use your own imagination and creativity. I have been making jewelry boxes and toy boxes for some time now, and while I enjoy making them sometimes I wish I could get away from the standard "square" box. This book has shown me a definite alternative and I will be adding bandsaw boxes to my list of projects. Great book, can't rate it high enough.