Woodsmith books

[Jack Fearnley]

I have now bought three Woodsmith books:

The Home Workshop Classic cabinetry Shop-Built Jigs and fixtures

What are your opinions of the plans in these books?

I look at some of the jigs in the third book and wonder if they are not too over-elaborate for the job they are supposed to do. For example, the box joint jig on page 118. I compare this to one in Carol Reed's router book which is simpler and one in Yeung Chen's book "Classic Joints with power tools" where he just seems to use a piece of plywood and a peg!

I really like leafing through these books as they are beautifully illustrated and ring-bound to lie flat. I am just a beginner and accumulating a number of books to educate myself in cabinet work. Right now I am half way through building the tabletop case on page 18 of Classic Cabinetry. Hence the posts about dovetails and routers.

Best Regards, Jack Fearnley

[rcook5]

I have the first two and they were bathroom reading for a while. Lots of good information, although if I ever built a lot of the projects in the 'workshop' book I'd modify them a good bit.

--RC "Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.

[dteckie]

Ditto on bathroom reading.

[Dave Jackson]

Ditto on modifying the plans a bit. --dave

[Jack Fearnley]

Interesting comments. As I am a beginner I would be interested to know what you mean by modifying the plans. Do you just mean rescaling them to a more convenient size or is it more complex than that.

Best Regards, Jack Fearnley

[rcook5]

What I mean is taking ideas or features, dimensions, etc., from them and using them rather than building the project as-is. I like a lot of their smaller stuff, such as the jigs.

--RC "Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.

[Bob G.]

=============================== I am a retired guy who has every single issue of woodsmith going all the way back to Number 1(one).... Probably one of my better ideas was to save all of them... Now IF (big if really) I get bored or need something to work on between major projects I have a Bi-Zillion projects to play with...

BUT over the years I know...read as I am 100 percent, absolutely...,positively... that I never..., ever... ,not even once... NOT modified a set of plans...

With woodsmith I "alter" their methods of joinery allot... many of their plans are intended to "teach" you how to make this joint or that joint etc..BUT in many cases I use a easier method that I know will work.... What I hardly ever alter is the overall look and scale of the project.. and my choice of Material (wood) is almost always determined by what I have in the shop... A cherry night stand in Woodsmith will come out of my shop as a Walnut Nightstand etc...

I also make an occasional boo boo and have to alter everything to adjust for my mistake... lol

Bob Griffiths

[Glenna Rose]

Well, Bob, isn't that the mark of a true artist?

How many flowers got extra petals because of a slip of the brush we'll never know, or how many great new dishes were prepared because the cook didn't have an ingredient or used the "wrong" one. Even wording in letters pre-correction tape days could be more creative with the typist not wanting to correct a mistyped stroke.

Suppose that is how circular tables *really* came about? Maybe someone cut the board too short and decided to continue it and make it a circle rather than a rectangle or square. (Never did believe the King Arthur story anyway, nice fairy tale.)

"Fess up, how many projects have you improved with a "boo-boo?"

Glenna

[Phil Anderson]

It's how I learned to do inlays! Cut something a little too short? Add a piece of contrasting wood and there you have it, art!