Customer Reviews

The Complete Practical Woodworker: A Comprehensive and Easy-to-Follow Course for the Home Woodworker

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This book has a little bit of everything. It starts with an explanation of what wood is, how it's produced, and what the differences are between woods. Then tools are examined, everything from screwdrivers to bandsaws. Next is a quick section on getting started (plans, safety equipment, etc.) and then one on fasteners and fittings. The next three sections are very good sections on techniques (basic techniques, joints and advanced techniques), and after those are a section on wood finishing.

The last, and largest, chapter is the one containing the plans. For some reason, the projects are not delineated in the table of contents or anywhere else, which is a bit of a pain. For your knowledge they are: wine rack, picture frame, CD rack, mirror frame, magazine rack, (wall-mounted) bookshelf, bar stool, occasional table, storage chest, three-legged chair, display case, bedside cabinet, computer cabinet, butcher's block, bookcase, corner cabinet, (small) dining table, settle (wooden bench), conservatory bench, and kitchen base unit. Each project has a list of materials, exploded diagrams, and color pictures to accompany the step-by-step directions. (Very nice!)

As might be expected from a book that tries to cover everything, it is something of a mixed bag. Some of the information is quite informative, while some is bound to be common knowledge of most woodworkers. Overall, though, I do think that this is a good book for any woodworker, or woodworker-want-to-be to read.

As for the projects, all of them were of the style that I would call Swedish Modern (that may not be the right term, so please do not take this as gospel). That is, they are of a simple, almost stark design, shown with a blonde finish. I must admit that I didn't particularly care for any of the projects, and have not made any of them.

Overall, though, let me say that this is a well-produced book, one that would be of use to most woodworkers. It is a good book, but not a great one.

This book has a bit of everything. There is a section about wood, another of tools, a section about techniques and a section with projects. This book is like an abridged version of "The Compete Book of Woodworking" which has twice as many pages, is twice as thick and has twice as many projects.

The close-up photography is great! You can actually see what they are doing in detail. I also like it because they use hand tools, so you get to see close-ups of the uses for rabbet planes, spokeshaves, chisels, handsaws. This is something the other books I have seem to barely cover and I even have some dedicated to hand tools.
This is a great book for a beginner!