Build Your Own Log Furniture (Paperback)

by Les Smith (Author), Dan Swesey (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Talk about a fun ,creative,productive and practial tool for building your own log furniture-which you then keep... -- Joe Vitale, Author of There's a Customer Born Every Minute

This book is the definitive source ,for building log furniture. Dan & Les share years of knowledge and love... -- Henry Krumrei, Associate Product Manager Minwax Company

Product Description
You can learn how to build log furniture like the pros! Using this 160 pg. information packed how to book. Over 200 pictures & illustrations & easy to understand directions. You can soon be building for fun or profit.BED FRAMES,BAR STOOLS,BENCHES ect. Book is endorsed by MINWAX & includes their recommendations on finishing. The secrets and information revealed in this book are:MARKETING, LOGS AND MATERIAL,TENNON &MORTISE,TOOLS,SANDING,DRILLING 10 PROJECTS & MUCH MORE! This is the newest & best book available for the rustic furniture building industry. If your looking for a new career in rustic log furniture building,"this is the book!"Learn this great "old skill" and move toward greater self sufficiency and a sense of accomplishment.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Cowboy-Up Log Furniture (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970704607
• ISBN-13: 978-0970704603
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 8.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #514,472 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks!!!, October 10, 2001

By	Paul (Laramie, WY United States) - See all my reviews

For a complete woodworking novice such as myself, this one and only manual on building your own log furniture has proven to be worth its weight in gold. The authors walk you through all stages of log furniture construction--from acquiring the necessary tools, wood, etc., to completing numerous projects, including the ultimate prize: a beautiful log bed. While the authors are thorough in their details, they are careful to continually remind the reader to infuse his or her own creativity in the process, leaving some of the specifics of certain the projects up to the reader's desires and imagination. All in all, a wonderful introduction to a craft that produces tremendous rewards for all levels of ability, and one which is not at all inappropriate for those who have absolutely no woodworking experience nor a workshop full of expensive power tools, such as myself. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to work with wood, loves the look and feel of log furniture but doesn't want to pay the often prohibitively high prices for such items in retail stores, and/or wants to explore a new, highly rewarding hobby (or perhaps even a profession).

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, December 16, 2002

By	Todd Wells (Newfoundland) - See all my reviews

I found this book to be very useful in building my first piece of log furniture. In fact my first project is a log bed (under construction at this time). There are few resources available that teach you how to build log furniture. Dan and Les have written a no nonsense book with detailed information on wood, tools, finishes and etc. The plans are reasonably clear and concise and there are lots of tips that can help reduce the "ooops" factor when building your first piece of furniture. The tools required are simple and fairly inexpensive. If you want to build your own log furniture then buy this book. My only negative coment is that I wish there were a few more projects to chose from.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Practical book, but too little text, June 16, 2005

By	Aquinatis (Paris) - See all my reviews

This is a practical book for working with dry softwood logs. Among others, it has 15 pages on tools, 35 p. on some basics (joinery, finishes...) and 50 p. on various projects. However this includes some big pictures and a lot of white space, or wasted space (e.g. a check list covering 4 pages, with only 15 items /page, and looking useless and stupid to me, pp. 37-40), so that in the end there is not much text per page in average. Although some traditional tools are exposed, everything in the book is meant to be made with power tools (but one could also use traditional tools).

This book does contain some real, practical teaching to help you build things (unlike a book with a deceptive title, Daniel Mac's Making Rustic Furniture). However, as it has so much white space and so little text, I think that it is definitely not worth its price (maybe it should be sold for about 10 dollars?).
If you want to get something for your money, buy instead Drew Langsner's Green Woodworking.