The Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery by Gary Rogowski
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Book Reviews of The Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery
Book Review: Joinery Basics
Summary: 5 Stars
This how to book is an important addition to a beginner furniture makers library. Good reference book.Book Review: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery
Summary: 5 Stars
Item shipped and received with in two weeks of order. I would purchase from this vendor in the futureBook Review: Good overview, but short on specifics
Summary: 4 Stars
This is hands-down the best book I've read that covers the spectrum of joinery. It goes over every type of joint you can imagine (biscuit, dovetail, pocket, spline, etc) with great pictures. It's great as a reference for an experienced woodworker or as a basic training manual for the beginner. In that respect, it's awesome.
That said, it's limited in how much detail it can cover for each type of joinery. In just a page or two for most types, it's not really possible to address the pros and cons of each type (esp which types are good in different situations), without making the book way too long.
I've seen magazines that do stress testing on multiple types of joints to see which is the strongest and which are the most attractive, etc, and it would have been nice to see this book put a little more effort into mentioning things like when you're making bookshelves, you might consider this type of joint or that type of joint and try to avoid such-and-such a joint. Also, just because it had so much ground to cover, the book doesn't do a step by step. I guess that's understandable though, given all the types out there. I guess you'd need a whole 5 volume set to cover it much better.
Book Review: Beautiful but inconsistent
Summary: 3 Stars
Spectacular production values, but (forgive me) really pretty dis-joint! I'll give one example of what I feel is the book's major shortcoming: in the section on dovetail joints, he never shows a photo or line drawing of a dovetail joint just as it is about to go together - I have to visualize for myself what it is supposed to look like. Its like a friend of mine who when discussing something will think a sentence but not actually say it, and proceed with the discussion as if she HAD said it out loud and assuming you heard it! Very hard to follow sometimes.... In this case a basic beginners step to making dovetails is omitted, so everything that follows is pretty hard to grasp.I also find the pictures and supporting text lacking - they often do not illustrate his point, or are too small / distant to see what is actually going on.
I do like the catalog of joints, the discussion of the pros and cons of each and best applications practice. I also like that for each joint he gives several different ways to make it, depending on what tool you have or prefer to use.
If Rogowski would just give the book to 5 novice woodworkers and note down everywhere they don't "get" something so he could address their issue in the next edition, he'd do himself and all his readers a big favor.
Book Review: Flogging's too good for them...
Summary: 3 Stars
Perhaps Taunton could bring back the 'Cat, or maybe Keel-hauling , for their proof reading staff. Was this manuscript ever proofed before being committed to print? I'm no great speller, but this manuscript is missing part or full words in just about every chapter I have read so far. The text flows along nicely then you hit a great rock in the middle of the stream. Then you have to re-read the section a few times to try to figure out what was intended.Although beautifully photographed, many of the photos are too small or are poorly framed so that important details are hard to see. Also I have a hard time following the system of organisation in the book, which seems to double back on itself or repeat near identical sections.
Compared to the companion volume 'Furniture & Cabinet Construction' this book is a big disappointment, especially after waiting for its delayed publication.
Lift your game guys!