Making Authentic Craftsman Furniture: Instructions and Plans for 62 Projects (Dover Crafts: Woodworking)

My wife gave this to me for Christmas (I'm using my wife's Amazon profile to fill this out...) and I love it. The book does not provide much in the way of instructions or detailed measurements, but it does say what the builder needs do to complete the project. Each project gives a cut list with rough cut and finish cut measurements. Diagrams show and tell which types of joints should be used (mortise/tenon/dowel/rebated, etc...) but it will come down to the builder to make a judgement call on how thick/thin/deep to cut mortise/tenon joints, and such.The book is NOT for somebody who cannot extrapolate missing information or who cannot intuit basic woodworking concepts. Not a book for absolute beginners, but the projects are approachable, do-able without the more expensive tools, and helps to understand furniture building.

I'm loving flipping through this book. The directions will be easy to follow, and will get my creative juices flowing. I'm glad they compiled this work.I personally wish they had more written content from Stickley, as I am a fan of the Arts and Crafts movement and its anti-industrial roots. I'll have to look for another book for more of that though. (Oh darn, honey, I guess I need to order more books...)The snippets of written work here are insightful and detailed. The drawings are helpful, and the cut list will be invaluable. There are websites out there that'll sell you plans for individual pieces, and they'll charge you as much as this book for just one set of plans. This book provides many plans.

As other reviewers have stated this book includes a lot of plans and cutting lists. The plans are not exploded and the reader needs to understand joinery and furniture building in order to understand the construction methods in these plans. This book will not tell the reader how to build furniture. This is a useful book if the reader likes to look at and build from original sketches rather than from detailed layouts.

This is a great book to have if you are interested in building Craftsman furniture. While it is not a step-by-step how-to, it does give enough info if you are they type to figure things out anyhow. There are public domain PDF's of similar pieces out there, but I wanted a hard copy too and this was a good purchase for me.

This book is hand drawn prints with very little explanation or detail. As a carpenter and not a cabinet maker I’ll have difficulty with these but will be able to use them. This book will be no help for a novice woodworker. Many assumptions must be made to complete a project. Basically this book is a 3 view print of each design with a rough and finish cut list. There are no assembly instructions at all.

As previous reviewers have commented, this book is written for the reader with joinery knowledge, and can formulate their own plans based off the provided drawings and cut lists, and choose the joinery of their liking in the craftsman tradition. As someone familiar with joinery, this book will be used to reference design features on the furniture referenced in the book. With that said, I am very happy with the book and would recommend to others seeking the same purpose of the book.This is not a step by step project book.Cheers!

Shipping said it would take a week but showed up earlier! Buyer sent it out very fast. Book was in the condition as described and packaged with care.

If you appreciate the craftsman style, have some basic skill and a few tools, this is a great reference to quickly get started on a project. I’ve built three items from this book, they are all still in use and should be for years to come. Eventually…I will tackle the legendary Morris chair!