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

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 15:20:45 -0500, Jack Fearnley
wrote:

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
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.

Ditto on bathroom reading.

Ditto on modifying the plans a bit. --dave


wrote in message
oups.com...
Ditto on bathroom reading.

Dave Jackson wrote:

Ditto on modifying the plans a bit. --dave


wrote in message
oups.com...
Ditto on bathroom reading.


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

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 22:12:31 -0500, Jack Fearnley
wrote:

Dave Jackson wrote:

Ditto on modifying the plans a bit. --dave


wrote in message
oups.com...
Ditto on bathroom reading.


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

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.

On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 04:58:45 GMT, wrote:

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 22:12:31 -0500, Jack Fearnley
wrote:

Dave Jackson wrote:

Ditto on modifying the plans a bit. --dave


wrote in message
oups.com...
Ditto on bathroom reading.


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

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.

===============================
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

writes:

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

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

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

Glenna

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!
--

Best Regards, Phil

Living In The Woods Of Beautiful Bonney Lake Washington
Visit My Web Site www.philsfun.com