Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking: A step-by-step guidebook to essential woodworking techniques (Bk. 1 & 2) (Paperback)

by Tage Frid (Author) "A woodworker must have a basic understanding of the growth and structure of trees in order to design with an understanding of what can and..." (more)
Key Phrases: offset dovetail, scrap plate, spline miter, Mock Finger Joints, Smoothing the Outside, Turning Large Bowls (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Learn from Tage Frid, the dean of American woodworking teachers. Make and use joints from the basic tongue and groove to multiple-spline miters and dovetails.

Product Details

• Paperback: 468 pages
• Publisher: Taunton (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561580686
• ISBN-13: 978-1561580682
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #379,403 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must have" book. But watch out for safety issues., June 14, 2002

By	GB Guitars "gbroulet" (Colfax, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

I recently starte re-reading this book and I was surprised at how much I picked up from a 2nd reading. The book is full of practical advice on the use of both power tool and hand tools. There's a lot of gems of information in there. And it's a joy to find them.

Of course, a book can only describe how to do something. You'll need to put in the practice required to actually learn the technique. For example, this book has excellent descriptions of how to make full dovetails, half blind dovetails, and full blind dovetails all by hand. But you'll need to put in quite a few hours of practice time before your dovetails look as good as his (I'm still working on mine). I once heard Frank Klaus lecture that we should all take 4 boards 4 feet long and dovetail them together. They'll look terrible on our first try so saw off the ends and dovetail them again, and again, and again. By the time you really know how to make dovetails you'll have a nice little box to hold your shoe polish.

Overall this is an excellent overview of woodworking. My only warning would be to think twice about his power tool advice. There are several pictures which show him doing what I consider to be potentially dangerous things on his table saw. In the chapter about sharpening a hand saw he demonstrates how to build a jig for that purpose. This picture of him "squaring up a seam" on his table saw while holding the piece with his hand scares the hell out of me.

But even with that caveat, I still think that every woodworker should own this book.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best general woodworking text I've ever seen, August 23, 2002

By	Nuno Souto (Australia) - See all my reviews

Master Tage Frid has put in these books all anyone would ever need to become a very competent woodworker.

Although I had been doing a lot of work before, once I got his books my level of confidence went to the stratosphere. I now tackle very complex projects using mostly hand tools without the slightest problem.

He not only provides excellent advice but also does so in a manner that is easy to understand and makes a lot of sense.
Best text on general woodworking I've ever seen. And I've read most of them, even the very old ones.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic book for beginners and experts alike, April 3, 2003

By	magicker71 (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews

I recently found myself getting interested in woodworking with the purchase of a new table saw and bought a couple of books, including this title. It's impressive and an extremely good book for a beginner to purchase.

The first section (3/4 of the book) shows you not only every way to join two pieces of wood, but shows you how to do each joint with different tools. So if you have a table saw but not a router, you can still make each of the joints. This book also has some great (and very simple) jigs to help get started. The second part is a combination of information about bending wood, finishing, etc. Although not as comprehensive as the first section, it still has some valuable information.

Highly recommended to anyone.