Complete Idiot's Guide to Woodworking [Paperback]

Reed Karen (Author), Alpha Group (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Complete Idiot's Guide | Publication Date: April 21, 2000

From learning about the right tools for the right jobs to looking at a plan and beginning your own project, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Woodworking" teaches the novice woodworker all there is to know about this wonderful hobby. This step-by-step book takes you through the workshop, whether it's a shed in the backyard or a three-foot space in a one-bedroom apartment, showing you how to create beautiful pieces of furniture and decorative items with the right tools. You'll learn how to set up a workspace, buy hand and power tools, set goals within a realistic budget, work with plans and put the finishing touches on your project. Basic plans for a variety of projects are included.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

From learning about the right tools for the right jobs to looking at a plan and beginning your own project, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Woodworking" teaches the novice woodworker all there is to know about this wonderful hobby. This step-by-step book takes you through the workshop, whether it's a shed in the backyard or a three-foot space in a one-bedroom apartment, showing you how to create beautiful pieces of furniture and decorative items with the right tools. You'll learn how to set up a workspace, buy hand and power tools, set goals within a realistic budget, work with plans and put the finishing touches on your project. Basic plans for a variety of projects are included.

About the Author

Reed Karen is a teacher of woodworking at Parsons School of Design in New York City. He studied under Tage Frid, an author and woodworker who is famous in woodworking circles, and went on to start his own business. Some of Reed's clients include Polo/Ralph Lauren, Barney's New York, Rush Limbaugh, and Bret Easton Ellis. His work has been published in Harper's Bazaar, Architectural Record, House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home, and Architectural Digest. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; 1 edition (April 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028632370
• ISBN-13: 978-0028632377
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,152,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Guide? It's a wood dictionary!, June 22, 2005

By 

James E. Buis "Jim Buis" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Woodworking (Paperback)

As a Middle School and High School Woodshop Teacher, I can tell you that this book does a good job of defining wooworking terms. However, it provides no how-to information. For example, if you would like to know about a biscuit joiner and the joints it creates, all you will find is a verbal description of what it is and a drawing of the joint that looks more like a mortise and tenon than a biscuit joint. Biscuit joinery is not clearly depicted pictorially and there is certainly no information about when to use them, how to use them, or how to do them. Need a wood dictionary? Buy this book. Need a how-to guide for woodworking? Buy something else.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview, January 17, 2002

By 

"scroobious2" (Montclair, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Woodworking (Paperback)

No, if you're looking for a book to "teach you how to build stuff" or give you step-by-step instructions for cutting a beveled half-blind dovetail joint, this one ain't for you. But if you're a beginning woodworker--or thinking about becoming a woodworker--this book will give you a thorough and detailed overview of all aspects of the craft. Karen explores topics ranging from setting up your shop, types and uses of tools (both hand and power), properties of wood, wood selection and storage, types and applications of different joints, adhesives, mechanical fasteners, basic door and carcass construction, milling, building procedure--drafting, cut lists, assembly sequence, finishing, etc. A very good list of resources is included as an appendix. The book is well-written and entertaining, and packed with information--much of which would probably be useful for more seasoned hobbyists as well as the beginners for whom it is intended.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good for beginners but hands on is still needed, September 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Woodworking (Paperback)

this is a good book if you want to see if woodworking is for you...but if you want to start, this will introduce it to you, but not well enough for you to start out successfully. or well at all for that matter... but it will introduce you, but, unless you know how to use the tools and machines, you might as well take a class.