Style References


Recommended Posts

12 minutes ago, Chip Sawdust said:

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

Could you give a sentence or two describing the books or giving a suggestion? Also as this is a style reference can you list the furniture style for each book as well?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Could you give a sentence or two describing the books or giving a suggestion? Also as this is a style reference can you list the furniture style for each book as well?

Sure, I’ll give it a shot :) 

Furniture Making Plain and Simple by Watson and Poulos - This is a fairly basic book, old school stuff but some really helpful construction tips, especially if you like hand work. It helped me perfect my hand-fashioned dovetails to it’s one I put a gold star next to. It’s an older book though, no color pics or other stuff. 

Making Furniture Masterpieces by Gottshall - This has some plans for 18th century pieces, I think color pics if i recollect correctly. Nice stuff in there if you’re looking for ideas, which is why I buy some of these books. 

Woodworker’s Guide to Veneering and Inlay Jonathan Benson - This is self explanatory. The only thing it lacks is doing oval fan inlays (that I’m learning now) and bellflowers, which is my current interest for some Federal pieces. But a TON of stuff about doing veneer and more complex (larger?) inlays. Pretty well-reviewed on Amazon.

American Furniture the Federal Period by Charles Montgomery - a basic description of Federal period furniture. It’s descriptive, historical, that kind of thing. 

American Furniture of the 18th Century by Jeff Greene - this one is like the one above, descriptive and educational about history. I love reading about this stuff...

Turning Wood by Richard Raffan - Raffan is well-known as a wood turner, and he has lots of helpful instruction on turning on the lathe. I bought this right after I bought my lathe a few months ago. Good stuff, including sharpening turning tools. 

The Perfect Edge by Ron Hock - I think this is a must for any woodworker. It’s a classic in my mind. Hock makes blades for all kinds of things and is a metallurgist of sorts who describes more about sharpening than you could ever digest. 

Cabinetmaking and Millworking (textbook style book) by John L. Fierer - This was designed for teaching students as it has questions at the end of chapters, so it’s instructive. You can look up specific things in it but to be honest I haven’t read it as much as some of the others above. 

Biulding Fine Furniture by Glen Huey - This has projects for turn of the century pieces, but not solely focused on Queen Anne or Hepplewhite or arts and crafts or... or... But some very nice pieces in it. 

I’ll add to this the Encyclopedia of Furniture by Josef Aronson, which is exactly what it says, in encyclopedia. If you want to research a particular period or style, this has information and black and white pics of it. Another older book.

None of these books, except Turning and Edge I think, are for rank beginners, but you can always learn from them no matter your skill or knowledge level. I’m no expert by any means, so I can learn from anyone  :)

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/6/2019 at 5:37 PM, Bmac said:

 

Second to Krenov, the books about Sam Maloof have changed my woodworking more than anything. The books I own are "The Furniture of Sam Maloof", and "Sam Maloof, Woodworker". Again, not how to books but books for inspiration. You can find out the how to through other avenues, but you get the inspiration in these books. The Mid Century Modern furniture is interesting to me, and Maloof's work is classic.

Based on your recommendation and more importantly your work I put this on my wishlist and my daughter gave it to me for my birthday today. The pictures are awesome and I totally agree with your inspiration comments. Thanks for sharing here!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh geez I don’t recall anyone putting Bob Flexner’s book on wood finishing in the list. 

Flexner has made his life’s work about finishing and his book is fantastic. You have to have a copy. 

Geez now what’s the name of it? I think it’s Understanding Wood Finishing. For sure a classic.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

Based on your recommendation and more importantly your work I put this on my wishlist and my daughter gave it to me for my birthday today. The pictures are awesome and I totally agree with your inspiration comments. Thanks for sharing here!

Happy birthday! Mine was earlier this month :) 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw Lang’s book referenced and it is a great book. One of my early purchases, Brand new. 

I have to add Darryl Peart’s two books I have on G&G furniture. One is In the Greene and Greene Style, Nd the other one is Green and Greene, esbigne Elements for the Workshop. 

They both contain great tips, jigs and other info on how to stylize various points of G&G furniture. I’ve made several pieces for our house and used the information in both these books for teaching me how to make drawer pulls, ebony inserts, all sorts of finer G&G details. Good stuff. 

I have Lang”s Shop Drawings for Green and Greene Furniture and it is also a great book. The three go together like wine and cheese :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I've still been buying books, but have been too busy, or too tired to look at them.  I did order another shelf for the Barrister Bookcase, and hope I can slip it in without Pam noticing.  She did tell me to stop buying books until I had somewhere to put them, but I will have somewhere now.  That bookcase will just be taller, but that room has a 10' ceiling.  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Barrister-Bookcase-Section-Sized-D-12-1-4-for-Large-Books/333150377721?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Anyway, this book came, and the box it came in was so heavy that I thought it was some tool that I ordered that I didn't remember.  Thinking it was a tool, I threw the box in the back seat of the truck, and just took it out at the shop today.  It wasn't a tool, but a Very Heavy book.  It has over 600 pages, and is a very high quality printing.

Southern-Furniture-1680-1830-The-Colonial-Williamsburg-Collection

It's probably the most awesome book I've opened on Colonial Furniture.  There are Many color photographs.  They show the backs of the pieces, and pieces like chests of drawers also have pictures of the carcasses with all the drawers taken out, and pictures of tables inverted.  There are closeups of inlays.  You will see many of the original pieces that have inspired later versions that you recognize.

I've had this book in my watchlist on ebay for a good while.   They have always before been way too expensive.  I keep several of the expensive books in my watchlist, and by doing that, when another one comes up for sale, I see it, and can jump on it if the price is right.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Southern-Furniture-1680-1830-The-Colonial-Williamsburg-Collection-LG-hardcover/153568943091?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

For Bill Hylton: Illustrated Cabinet Making

I will add that this book contains much more info than just cabinet making. It includes information on many types of furniture- kitchen cabinets, tables, bookcases, desks, beds, etc. It gives designs, dimensions, exploded drawings, and assembly info. It also includes ergonomic standards for the variety of furniture it covers, which is one of the main reasons I bought the book.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Having almost exhausted the supply of Colonial Furniture books, I turned to specifically buying books on Windsor chairs.  We've all seen the how-to build books, but there are also a number of books on their history, and many pictures of examples of old ones.

This book came this week, and needs to be added to the reference list, if you can find one for a price suitable for you.  My copy of this one is like new, as the ad said.  It's HUGE, weighing in at 8-1/2 pounds.   There are many variations inside that I have never seen before, and it will be entertainment for more than a few hours of reading.

 https://www.ebay.com/itm/American-Windsor-Chairs-by-Nancy-Goyne-Evans-1st-ed-Antique-chairs-dj-like-new/193042039791?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I just read "The Cabinet Maker's Notebook" cover to cover in a couple of days and well, I'm going to have to read it again with a highlighter or a notepad. So many great nuggets of, not only woodworking, but running a business and working with clients. It's funny because it is a bit of a retrospective book, of some of his times before he was so famous. It's important because he was telling customers "no" before he could really afford to because he believed in his own work. Such a valuable lesson to be reminded of over and over.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Purchased a few books on MCM and Danish Modern, not how to books but very much picture books for inspiration. I will say that because the books are not woodworking centered, you'll get pics of all different materials used for the furniture in these books. It is helpful to see the lines and shapes though. Here are the few I think are somewhat helpful.

This book on Danish Modern is fairly interesting, and cheap. Not a bad reference but absolutely no woodworking insight, purely visual and inspirational.

https://www.amazon.com/Danish-Modern-Andrew-Hollingsworth/dp/1586858114/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=danish+modern&qid=1581082093&sr=8-3

For MCM, these two are somewhat helpful for inspiration, again no woodworking insight;

https://www.amazon.com/Mid-Century-Modern-Interiors-Furniture-Details/dp/1840914068/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=mid+century+modern+furniture%2C+book&qid=1581082394&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Mid-Century-Modern-Furniture-Cara-Greenberg/dp/0517884755/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=mid+century+modern+furniture%2C+by+cara+greenberg+book&qid=1581082493&sr=8-9

Overall I found the reading and designs interesting. It gave me a few ideas, but I can't say they are must have books. If you are interesting in this style and want to delve deeper than they have a purpose. I do think they will impact my design and builds somewhat in the future.

Next I'm going to investigate books in the American Studio Furniture Movement. Interestingly, the above books are somewhat separate from this movement, very little cross reference. For example, Maloof was never mentioned in any of the books. Nakashima had a few mentions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been having a hard time finding inspirational sources for what I want to do with MCM. There are a lot of the MCM books like you've linked that cover Modern or even MCM but they never really capture the radical side of the furniture movement that Nakashima, Maloof, and Juhl captured. I want to find some inspiration that really pushes the limits on the design and captures more of an artistic sense of MCM instead of the reserved sense.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Tom I'll add a section for it because timber frame is really a style and construction method. I'm assuming you'll share some of your adventures when you do build the timber frame boat house. I'm very interested in how it'll work out. Some day I'd love to give it a shot myself but i don't really have the opportunity at the moment.

I'll have to add this to my to do list as i can't get to it right now though.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not for sailboats.  Height is limited to 16' above normal water level.  Number of boat lifts is a little up in the air.  Limited to 2 slips for one lot, but can add 1 for each additional lot, and for other pieces of land with deeded access.  We have two waterfront lots adjoining there, including the lake house.  I'd like to do four slips, and four jetski lifts, but will need to see what effect deeded access will have on property tax value.  I'm mainly still working to pay property tax now.  It's going to be part of the rental property.

I know I want the open deck part to be 32' square, in basketweave sections, like I've done before.   Total square footage, including the normal two boat lifts, is limited to 1250, not including any walkway out to that, but there is nothing about sizes of extra slips beyond those two.

I haven't really had time to put into planning beyond what you're reading here.  I needed an excuse to buy a sawmill anyway, so that will be part of it.  Have spent more time looking at sawmills, than planning the boathouse.

I've been looking at other timber framing classes, where people go to work on someone else's structure for 4 days, for a fee of about $600.  I might be able to figure out how to get people to pay me to let them build my boathouse.  Or, I could just invite a bunch of guys to come, stay in the lakehouse, bring their motorcyles, jetskiis, boats, atv's, and maybe Wives with their horses, or whatever other toys they might want to play with here, to come help me build it, and play some too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

For anyone interested in building Asian furniture, these two books in English are at the top of my list.

"Conniseurship of Chinese Furniture, Ming and Early Qing Dynasties" by Wang Shixiang and Lark E Mason. History, construction methods and joinery, style variations, beautiful full page photos of the woods used in furniture from the Ming and Qing eras (1500's to 1800's), which were the pinnacle of Chinese furniture designs. A spectacular two volume book, one of text and one of plates.

And "Chinese Domestic Furniture in Photographs and Measured Drawings," by Gustav Ecke. Also contains joinery details and the measured drawings are very helpful guides for developing proportions.

 

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the addition Girino and notably thanks for reminding me this section needed updating... it's been a year! Oopps. Asian inspired furniture was a style that wasn't on my radar and it's good that it's been added. I do think it's somewhat interesting that the 2nd book was written by someone with a very very German name.

REFERENCE POST

https://www.woodtalkonline.com/topic/29835-style-references/

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Book mentioned in the OP, 'Building Fine Furniture' by Glen Huey

Building 18th-Century American Furniture by Glen Huey is a compilation of his project books. It would make sense to get the compilation instead of just that one book with only a handful of projects:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1440305544/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=AIBHMZLWIBJNH&psc=1

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites