Customer Reviews

The Complete Illustrated Guide to Furniture and Cabinet Construction

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Through my work as a public librarian I recently ordered this book, and subsequently had the opportunity to be the first at my library to read it! I am very impressed with the sheer scope of the work. Having long been a fan of the Taunton Press I expected this work to be very good quality, and I was not disappointed. I agree with most of the favorable comments made by other reviewers, but I have to disagree with the claim made by another that this book is disjointed. I found it to be very readable and informative.

To me the beauty of this book is that there is something in it for everyone. Beginners will of course gather the most new knowledge here, but even seasoned woodworkers (and woodworking book junkies) will find it interesting and above all useful. Besides the grand scope of the book, I was impressed most with the fresh and creative ways that common woodworking knowledge is presented. I found that the way the chapters were laid out, the order of presentation, felt very natuaral. Each subject flows nicely into the next. I particularly liked the sections illustrating the most common forms of a particular component of woodworking. Such as, the most common methods for mounting and fitting drawers and doors, the most common edge details for shelving, the most common dimensions for various categories of furniture, etc.

If I had to sum up why this book is a great buy I would have to say it is because this book serves as both an encyclopedia of woodworking facts (usefull to all woodworkers among us) and a comprehensive collection of tips and advice (which novices will find especially helpful). I highly recommend this purchase.

This is yet another excellent volume in Taunton's 'Complete Illustrated' woodworking series. Focused on (but not really limited to) furniture and cabinet construction, the book takes the reader through 1) Tools and Materials, 2) Box and Case Construction, 3) Doors, 4) Bases, Feet, and Stands, 5) Frame Construction, and wraps up with 6) Tabletops and Work Surfaces. This is an ambitious undertaking under any circumstances, but Andy Rae finds an approach that is both broad in coverage and tightly organized.

After a few initial wobbles as the book gets underway, the reader will grasp the overall approach and discover that there seems to be an endless supply of techniques and idea one can draw on. Whatever your level of building there is good material - this is one of those efforts that can help you make a breakthrough in quality of work.

Unlike many how-to books this series stays away from getting bogged down in projects. This allows the writer to move around and offer a lot of alternatives rather than get bogged down in one way to do things. It doesn't hurt to have a project in mind when reading the book, but be sure that it will change several times as you read and absorb the ideas.

I have a buffet table that owes a great deal to Andy Rae's ability to communicate both technique and design. Thus the book paid for itself in one fell swoop. Happy woodworking!

Although not for beginning woodworkers, this is an outstanding book--sort of like a combination Rodale & Tage Frid. It goes into detail on the construction of furniture and cabinetry--where Rodale provides an overview of cabinet/furniture types, and Tage Frid provides details of how to create specific joints, Andy Rae puts the two together. He provides a number of techniques that I hadn't thought of before, such as creating a raised panel out of cheaper MDF framed by solid wood.

The other books in the series (Joinery and Shaping Wood) are great as well. But I find myself looking to this book more often.

This book is very well organized and has many excellent examples of cabinet construction. He goes into great detail on all types including frameless cabinets.

I have been looking for something which would give me the basics as well as provide for more advanced concepts. I am very pleased to have found such a thing in one volume.

I highly recommend this book.

Given the scope of this work, I'm not sure what I expected, but I feel like, after reading a book on furniture and cabinet making, I ought to have some idea of how to construct a basic cabinet. While this book covers a wide variety of general techniques and types of joints commonly used, at no point does it tie them together; it discusses possibilities, but never synthesizes them into anything tangible, leaving me, at least, wondering which of the book's assorted grab bag of clever tricks might be combined to actually produce a cabinet. I already knew what a sliding dovetail was before I bought this book; what I sought to learn was the architecture and structural elements needed to design a cabinet. Strangely, I feel like I'm no closer to that knowledge than I was before I read the book.

I bought this book based on recommendations from Amazon reviews, and find those recommendations to be correct. This book is loaded with good information, detail and pictures on all areas of furniture and cabinet construction. It is not filled with step by step instruction that some beginning woodworkers may be seeking. But you certainly don't have to be an expert to understand and appreciate the techniques and styles shown in this book. This one sits proudly in my bookcase (yes, I made the bookcase).

I really like this book. I find that it has a lot of great information, not just about making cabinets but for organizing a woodshop in general. The stuff like "anatomy of a cabinet", comparison of different types of joinery as applies to cabinet making, and some of the suggestions for tools and jigs are quite good.

The only problem is that the text is sometimes hard to follow. He isn't really very methodical, and will go off on tangents, sometimes forgetting to go back to the main point. All in all its worth having though.

Overall I have found "Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets" much more detailed, complete, and methodical - anyone who wants to make cabinets really ought to get both books.

I have nothing but good to say about this book, and concur with all the other positive comments from other reviewers. The reason I can't give it 5 stars is that I COULD put it down. There are other woodworking books, also designed as references, that were just so well done, and so well written, that this one just doesn't quite get there. (Two I'm thinking of are Scott Landis' The Workbench Book : A Craftsman's Guide to Workbenches for Every Type of Woodworking and Understanding Wood Finishing by Bob Flexner.)
This is a wonderful book that you should buy. Just make sure you get the other two as well!

I bought this book based on recommendations from Amazon reviews, and find those recommendations to be correct. This book is loaded with good information, detail and pictures on all areas of furniture and cabinet construction. It is not filled with step by step instruction that some beginning woodworkers may be seeking. But you certainly don't have to be an expert to understand and appreciate the techniques and styles shown in this book. This one sits proudly in my bookcase (yes, I made the bookcase).

Like most woodworkers, I have a pretty good collection of books on the subject. I was surprised by this book. It is packed with a lot of small details, great pictures and a lot of content. After looking through the book, I felt I had gotten more than my moneys worth on this one!