Style References

[Bmac]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

This book caught my eye as i was flipping through the suggested books on ebay. I've also been finding that amazon is often cheaper after shipping and tax than most of what is offered on ebay. I"m sure you can get lucky with some ebay listings but I've had better sucess with amazon prices.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565233670/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

That looks interesting. Going to Dc this summer, think I should visit the Renwick.

[JohnG]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

I've also been finding that amazon is often cheaper after shipping and tax than most of what is offered on ebay. I"m sure you can get lucky with some ebay listings but I've had better sucess with amazon prices.

Same here. I stopped using ebay years ago when it turned into a giant burning trash heap of counterfits, scam listings, and mediocre pricing and service. A few of my friends say it has gotten better, but without having consistently lower or even pricing with Amazon, I don't bother. Amazon has its own issues, but I have had much better experiences with them than ebay.

Similar to what Tom was saying about ebay, on Amazon you can almost always find lower prices than the first one that shows up.

[Chestnut]

17 minutes ago, Bmac said:

That looks interesting. Going to Dc this summer, think I should visit the Renwick.

I'm going to be there memorial week. I checked their exhibits and they don't even have any during that period.... WTF do they not know it's a holiday week?

7 minutes ago, JohnG said:

Same here. I stopped using ebay years ago when it turned into a giant burning trash heap of counterfits, scam listings, and mediocre pricing and service. A few of my friends say it has gotten better, but without having consistently lower or even pricing with Amazon, I don't bother. Amazon has its own issues, but I have had much better experiences with them than ebay.

Similar to what Tom was saying about ebay, on Amazon you can almost always find lower prices than the first one that shows up.

I almost always sort lowest price at the top. If i get something that is unrelated i refine the search. Ebay has very good search boolians unlike some other search engines out there ... *cough* this forum.

[Bmac]

Here's a topic you may want to include, even though you have titled this style reference. I read a lot of books on wood, the medium we work with. There are a few favorites of mine that I'm constantly referring to.

"Understanding Wood" by Bruce Hoadley, pretty much the bible on the subject.

"Cut and Dried" by Richard Jones, what I would consider the new bible. Very detailed book. 

"With the Grain: A Craftsman Guide to Understanding Wood" by Christian Becksvoort, a great addition to any woodworker's library. Details the many North American Hardwoods we work with, their properties, milling and drying, and a section on how to work with solid wood.

"Selecting and Milling Wood" by Charles Self, another quality book on the subject and he discusses the structure of wood, North American hardwoods and softwoods along with exotics species. He also hits on felling, milling, and drying.

 

For something else, a topic I've also studied quite a bit is chainsaw milling. there is only one book on this subject.

"Chainsaw Lumbermaking" by Will Malloff, he discusses the equipment, the powerhead, the mills, the chains, felling, milling technique, and basically everything about the subject. This book has been worn out by me.

 

[Chestnut]

11 hours ago, Bmac said:

Here's a topic you may want to include, even though you have titled this style reference. I read a lot of books on wood, the medium we work with. There are a few favorites of mine that I'm constantly referring to.

"Understanding Wood" by Bruce Hoadley, pretty much the bible on the subject.

"Cut and Dried" by Richard Jones, what I would consider the new bible. Very detailed book. 

"With the Grain: A Craftsman Guide to Understanding Wood" by Christian Becksvoort, a great addition to any woodworker's library. Details the many North American Hardwoods we work with, their properties, milling and drying, and a section on how to work with solid wood.

"Selecting and Milling Wood" by Charles Self, another quality book on the subject and he discusses the structure of wood, North American hardwoods and softwoods along with exotics species. He also hits on felling, milling, and drying.

 

For something else, a topic I've also studied quite a bit is chainsaw milling. there is only one book on this subject.

"Chainsaw Lumbermaking" by Will Malloff, he discusses the equipment, the powerhead, the mills, the chains, felling, milling technique, and basically everything about the subject. This book has been worn out by me.

 

I started this specifically for style venturing out to other topics is more than i want to tackle at this time. If i venture away then i'd feel like i'd have to include how-to books ect. It gets to be then there are far far too many to cover and at what point do we just admit the reviews on amazon, barns and noble, eby ect are adequate? I still need to try and complete my search of the forum for any mention of a style book. I know there have been posts that i'm missing.

Style and design books are a higher level and not purchased as much. They seem to be harder to find and often the reviews arn't quite helpful.

[Bmac]

3 hours ago, Chestnut said:

I started this specifically for style venturing out to other topics is more than i want to tackle at this time. If i venture away then i'd feel like i'd have to include how-to books ect. It gets to be then there are far far too many to cover and at what point do we just admit the reviews on amazon, barns and noble, eby ect are adequate? I still need to try and complete my search of the forum for any mention of a style book. I know there have been posts that i'm missing.

Style and design books are a higher level and not purchased as much. They seem to be harder to find and often the reviews arn't quite helpful.

I got you, no worries. 

[Tom King]

Maybe a reference thread sticky, at the top of the Wood forum.

[Chestnut]

1 hour ago, Tom King said:

Maybe a reference thread sticky, at the top of the Wood forum.

I don't know if the powers that be will go along with stickies. Light conversation will keep the post near the top in a lighly used section as this. As i've said i'll keep the first post updated so it's easy to get to when desired.

[..Kev]

13 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

I don't know if the powers that be will go along with stickies. Light conversation will keep the post near the top in a lighly used section as this. As i've said i'll keep the first post updated so it's easy to get to when desired.

Once you feel the list is ready, create a new thread with that info.  To get away from the "I don't like that book" banter, make a request in the post to limit posts to only items that should be added to the list.  This will help us remove unwanted content from the thread. These conversations can happen in a separate thread to keep this list at the front and center.   I will pin it in the forum so that it's always there for reference and can be updated by you or any of the staff.  It's a great list that is currently 3 pages back and should be up front.  Drop me a pm when you're ready and I'll get it pinned for you.

[B. Brinkley]

Here's my long winded take on Amazon and EBay books and such. I am an Author. I have written a number of books on various subjects over the years. My latest book is about wood boat building that is shortened down for the beginning or novice boat builder. 

Amazon opened up the self publishing arena for Authors who really have no business writing, let alone publishing a book. There is so much crap out there now it has really lowered the standards that traditional publishing houses upheld. Just today I received a book that was in reality a reprint of an early 1900's woodworking book now in the public domain that some schmuck copied and put his name on the cover as the author! They really push reader reviews, yet I can promise you that most book reviews are fake and generated by commercial reviewers. On the other hand it is pretty nice to be able to write, publish, and make money on books that cover some obscure subject matter that a traditional publishing house would not touch because of their overhead. So it's a double edge sword I suppose.

Ebay may have its issues, but in my experience I have never bought anything not exactly as described and I suspect most folks on here have bought tools there occasionally. Amazon rapes an Author in fees and such, so many including myself buy their own copies in bulk and then sell them on eBay as another revenue source. 

Writing is dang hard when doing a non-fiction book with several hundred photos and illustrations that you have to pull out of your behind all while trying to create a book that is of good quality and actually helpful to your readers. LOL

Not sure where I am going with this except just be sure that you have a good idea of what's in the book before you buy it and ignore most of the reviews.

[Coop]

Good to know Brinkley. I’m sure we’d all be surprised as to what goes on at Amazon that is unfriendly to the sellers. 

[Chestnut]

The entire list is in the first post... it's too much of a hassle to deal with 2 threads and it kills the conversation. The first post will always be there and I'll keep it updated with any new suggestions. If any one wants to see what books were suggested what was said about them and who said it hit up the first post....

3 hours ago, B. Brinkley said:

Not sure where I am going with this except just be sure that you have a good idea of what's in the book before you buy it and ignore most of the reviews.

Amazon made it easy to publish for good and for bad. Be interesting to know if their fees are any more or less than how screwed major authors get through a publishing compnay.

On ebay it seems that the quality of book i get is usually much poorer than what i get from amazon. Though amazon has a better grading system for used books where as ebay doesn't really have much. More and more i'm finding book listings from 2nd hand stores and they usually have a stock photo of the book as 99% of the time the one that comes looks completely different from the single picture they had posted.

As i said in the first post I almost always look to see if the author had a website and does their own sales. If they do i try and buy from them first.

[Tom King]

I prefer ebay.    I've tried Amazon before, but decided to do a test.   I just did a search for "omohundro institute" on Amazon, and picked a book randomly to use for a search on both places-  "The Economy of British America, 1607-1789 (Published by the Omohundro Institute"

Amazon showed up 13 choices by choosing "show all selections", with the lowest priced one at $44.10 + 3.99 shipping.

The exact same search on ebay showed some number that I didn't count, but the third listing down was  $7.72 w/ free shipping.  Out of the hundreds of books I've bought off of ebay, there may have been two, or three duds, and for a few dollars each, I just toss them.

I don't have any complaints about the grading system on ebay.   Maybe I'm missing something about the search function on Amazon, but I'm used to the one on ebay, and get along with it fine.  I've probably bought 8 to 10 furniture books each of the last few nights, and no complaints about any that have come so far.  Change a search the least little way, and different ones will come up that otherwise didn't show up.

More than not, if buying something like mower parts, they will be cheaper off Amazon with Prime, than the same thing on ebay with free shipping, but for books I'm good with ebay.

 

[Tom King]

Of the books that came today, this one is very worthwhile, if for nothing more than the first 18 pages on  the "essentials of design".   In very few words, compared to others that I also like, but find very long winded-like Tolpin, Franklin Gottshall has written something that I think anyone contemplating designing furniture would benefit from.  You may even hate simple colonial furniture, but I still say you should read it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Simple-Colonial-Furniture-by-Gottshall-Franklin-H/273688597957?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

The other book that I am very impressed with, not only for content, but presentation is this one.  Hundreds, and hundreds of pictures, scale drawings, and various others such as tools being used,  in an impressively printed book.  I don't intend to build any Queen Anne furniture, but still say this is well worth a few bucks for anyone thinking about building any kind of furniture.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Queen-Anne-Furniture-History-Design-and-Construction-by-Vandal-Norman-L/293045017593?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

 

[Bmac]

Just received a gem, "Thomas Moser, Artistry In Wood", fits this category very well.

Five Chapters;

1- Origins; the least interesting to me, but it outlines his background and his humble beginnings.

2- A Covenant with Wood- a very interesting chapter that speaks glowingly, and very interestingly about his favorite wood, Cherry.

3- The Moser Aesthetic- A chapter on design and inspiration, covers his background as a refurbisher of antique furniture and a Shaker enthusiast. He discusses those who influenced him and his love for exposed joinery. This chapter was a very nice read.

4- Craftmanship- A discussion of construction and fabrication. He loves through tenons with wedges and dovetails.  

5- Shop Tour- Self explanatory.

[Coop]

2 hours ago, Bmac said:

Just received a gem, "Thomas Moser, Artistry In Wood", fits this category very well.

Five Chapters;

1- Origins; the least interesting to me, but it outlines his background and his humble beginnings.

2- A Covenant with Wood- a very interesting chapter that speaks glowingly, and very interestingly about his favorite wood, Cherry.

3- The Moser Aesthetic- A chapter on design and inspiration, covers his background as a refurbisher of antique furniture and a Shaker enthusiast. He discusses those who influenced him and his love for exposed joinery. This chapter was a very nice read.

4- Craftmanship- A discussion of construction and fabrication. He loves through tenons with wedges and dovetails.  

5- Shop Tour- Self explanatory.

This runs the gamut from used at Barnes and Noble @ $7.95 used, to $85 new. I opted for the less expensive one.

[Chestnut]

I updated the REFERENCE POST for details view the post. I added the two books tom king mentioned as well as the book Bmac mentioned. There are enough references that i felt a different organization  was warranted. I changed the theme to have the style highlighted at the top. Each line is the author: title of the book "quote about the book hopefully one sentence! " -Person doing the suggestion

I still have the bottom furniture galleries with pictures. I encourage if you stumble upon something that is well presented and put together to mention these as well. Below that are sections mostly for myself with material I've bought but haven't read and material i hope to buy.

I will also start linking the most recent update post so traveling from begging to end of this thread will be easy. The link to the first post is above and I'll try and keep it obvious .

18 hours ago, Bmac said:

Just received a gem, "Thomas Moser, Artistry In Wood", fits this category very well.

Five Chapters;

1- Origins; the least interesting to me, but it outlines his background and his humble beginnings.

2- A Covenant with Wood- a very interesting chapter that speaks glowingly, and very interestingly about his favorite wood, Cherry.

3- The Moser Aesthetic- A chapter on design and inspiration, covers his background as a refurbisher of antique furniture and a Shaker enthusiast. He discusses those who influenced him and his love for exposed joinery. This chapter was a very nice read.

4- Craftmanship- A discussion of construction and fabrication. He loves through tenons with wedges and dovetails.  

5- Shop Tour- Self explanatory.

@&*$ It that isn't 1 sentence that i can put in the the reference post SHAME!!!!

 

 

[Tom King]

That looks like a great way to do it. Good thinking!

 

 

[Chip Sawdust]

Oh man - books! 

I’ll have to write down my list of favorites and post here Chestnut, thanks for the topic

I have a small library but the only one I can think of the name of off the top of my head is Pevovich’s and that’s already been listed. Pearl and Lang for G&G stuff, but I also have Encyclopedia of Furniture (kind of boring but interesting at the same time) and a bunch of others. Stand by while I process....  (could be a. While, I’m slow)

[Coop]

I have a neighbor, bless his heart, a retired single 60 something guy that has way too much time on his hands. A 3 yo $30k bay boat with less than 40 hours, a fortune in black powder guns, the elite in golf clubs and hours and hours of study on all of the above. Unfortunately the guy couldn’t catch the first fish, hit a target at 50 yards or break 100 if his life depended on it. Point is, regardless of you library, if not applied, it does you no good. 

[Bankstick]

Seems like that guy has too much money, too.

[Chestnut]

8 hours ago, K Cooper said:

I have a neighbor, bless his heart, a retired single 60 something guy that has way too much time on his hands. A 3 yo $30k bay boat with less than 40 hours, a fortune in black powder guns, the elite in golf clubs and hours and hours of study on all of the above. Unfortunately the guy couldn’t catch the first fish, hit a target at 50 yards or break 100 if his life depended on it. Point is, regardless of you library, if not applied, it does you no good. 

Coop stop telling people my secrets.....

10 hours ago, Chip Sawdust said:

Oh man - books! 

I’ll have to write down my list of favorites and post here Chestnut, thanks for the topic

I have a small library but the only one I can think of the name of off the top of my head is Pevovich’s and that’s already been listed. Pearl and Lang for G&G stuff, but I also have Encyclopedia of Furniture (kind of boring but interesting at the same time) and a bunch of others. Stand by while I process....  (could be a. While, I’m slow)

Post them up and i'll get the added to the list.

REFERENCE POST

[Bmac]

12 minutes ago, Bankstick said:

Seems like that guy has too much money, too.

Well he's not married, I think a lot of guys would be rich with no wife or kids!

 

 

[treeslayer]

44 minutes ago, Bmac said:

I think a lot of guys would be rich with no wife or kids!

i am rich, i just don't have any money

[Chip Sawdust]

Furniture Making Plain and Simple by Watson and Poulos

Making Furniture Masterpieces by Gottshall

Woodworker’s Guide to Veneering and Inlay Jonathan Benson

American Furniture the Federal Period by Charles Montgomery

American Furniture of the 18th Century by Jeff Greene

Turning Wood by Richard Raffan 

The Perfect Edge by Ron Hock

Cabinetmaking and Millworker (textbook style book) by John L. Fierer 

Biulding Fine Furniture by Glen Huey