Amazon.com Review
There is a lot of potential confusion and expense in the stage between having a strong interest in woodworking and actually building a functional workshop. Woodworking for the Serious Beginner will get you from the former place to the latter in the straightest and most economical line. Authors Pamela Philpott-Jones and Paul L. McClure advise on which tools to purchase first, which tools not to purchase, how basic hand and power tools work, how to clean and maintain them, how to avoid injury, and how to build basic woodworking skills with well-diagrammed, detailed exercises. The beginning woodworking projects, explained in detail, fill practical needs such as a first basic workbench, shop horses, and table-saw accessories. Readers not only learn simple woodworking techniques, but also end up with a fully configured workshop.
From Library Journal
There seem to be two schools of thought on how beginners should approach woodworking: one dictates learning fundamentals and getting lots of practice, and the other requires buying lots of expensive tools. Here, the authors cover some fundamentals but lean heavily toward the latter school. McClure is a professional woodworker and Philpott-Jones is a beginner (her repeated statements to that effect and remarks about the difficulty of woodworking detract from the text). The first half of the book is devoted to buying and the second half shows how to build a workbench and router table. The section on safety is excellent. Better choices for libraries serving beginners include Peter Kom's Working with Wood (Taunton, 1993) and the three-volume Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking (Vol. 1, LJ 2/1/86). Only the most comprehensive collections should consider this title.?Jonathan Hershey, Akron-Summit Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
