Product Description

Authentic Arts & Crafts Furniture is a "filled-to-the-gills" book. All woodworkers, from beginners through advanced master craftsman, will find something special in this beautifully crafted, well-designed, thoughtfully organized book. Twenty great projects taken from the files of Popular Woodworking, the skill-building project magazine for practical woodworkers, include candlestick holders, a spiral staircase table, a queen-sized bed and a desktop book rack and are relatively easy to build from inexpensive woods. Readers will find clear instruction, great photos and accurate full-color technical art, enabling them to both produce gorgeous pieces and learn exciting new skills. There's a pleasing mix of techniques, woods and designs with broad appeal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #196827 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 127 pages

From Booklist
With its straightforward lines and rich finish, arts-and-crafts furniture nestles well into any design style. Yet that is not its only appeal. Hordes of collectors, beginning in the 1970s, snatched up every signed and nonsigned period piece at auctions, flea markets, and antique stores. So, with ever-escalating prices, what is an admirer to do? Obviously, the editors of Popular Woodwork ing^B are convinced that any crafter, even those with minimal skills, can successfully complete one of the 20-odd^B projects. Introduced by historical notes and excellent instructions on mortise and tenon construction (square pegs fitting into square holes), each of the patterns, from a Morris chair to a Greene & Greene patio table, includes encouraging details such as plenty of pictures and text as well as information about saving money on lumber and aging steel hardware with gun blue, among other topics. A well-planned and well-executed crafts book. Suggested reading appended. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Furniture you will use
This is a good A&C furniture book for the intermediate woodworker. The authors cover pieces from the simple (wastebasket) to the more difficult (entry bench, sideboard). A nice touch is that besides covering the usual Gustav Stickley pieces there are items by other A&C companies of the time (Shop of the Crafters, Limbert, Greene & Greene [actually architects, but they designed the furniture for their buildings], L & J.G. Stickley, Roycroft). The introductory chapter covers a brief history of the style, next is an introduction to some of the general woodworking techniques needed, and then the various projects with good photographs and explanations (there are a couple of minor editorial glitches, but they cause no real problems). The projects also vary from a duplicate of the original to slightly modified interpretations. A useful technique is given for staining/glazing the furniture to achieve the traditional golden brown color without actually having to fume the pieces in concentrated ammonia (a smelly, dangerous, and potentially lethal approach). So if you are a somewhat experienced beginning woodworker, you should find some great projects here to move you on to the next level. And even if you are a very experienced furniture maker, you will find some nice pieces you might want to make too.

This is an excellent collection!
I would classify myself as an intermediate level woodworker and a book expert (I am a librarian after all) and I can honestly say that this is one of the absolute best books of its type on the market. As I see it, the normal downfall of a book such as this is the authors either spend way too much time giving us all of the philosophical and historical background behind the furniture style in question, or once they actually get to the furniture projects section they disappoint by selecting such rare (and odd) pieces to reproduce that the book ultimately becomes more of a novelty rather than a useful tool.

I am thrilled to say that the authors of this book got the balance between philosophy and practical matters just right. There is just enough about Arts and Crafts fundamentals here to whet the appetite for the projects which follow. And speaking of the projects, this is good stuff! Out of the twenty two projects offered in this book, I can honestly say that I would be very happy to build fifteen of them and put them in my own home. In a book this size I am usually lucky if half of the projects are appealing enough to want to build them for myself, and keep in mind that I am a HUGE fan of this furniture style.

Bottom line is that the color illustrations (although minimalist to the beginner's eye) are compelling to the more skilled among us, the choice of projects is excellent, and the bibliography of suggested reading is very good. I highly recommend this purchase.

Excellent Writing and Furniture Designs
This book was the first that I picked up when I started building my own furniture. The projects turned out great and the finishing process that he recommended was excellent. The diagrams and step by step instruction give you all the information that you need to complete each project even if you're an amateur like I am (you do need to have/buy some good power tools though). I've made two of the projects he describes and there are still a couple more I'd like to do.