Woodworking Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Design, Build, and Create Paperback – October 30, 2014

Working smart rather than misdirected is always good

I think this book is one of the best published on working with wood, but it does have flaws.The pictures are not good. They were probably taken for publication on slick paper, like Fine Woodworking Magazine, and were not changed when they went to newsprint for this book. Newsprint requires a much lighter photograph with less contrast to print properly. In woodworking, photographs are important in understanding the process being described. “One picture is worth a thousand words” is no joke.Nonetheless, the pictures are not totally black. They are just hard to decipher in some cases.The size of the book in inconvenient, making it hard to read and hard to put on a bookshelf.Now for the good part. The information is nonpareil. I can’t think of another book on woodworking where so much information – both basic and advanced – is compiled in one place. While a bit of the information may be questionable, after all it is a series of articles expressing each person’s point of view on how to do something, the vast majority of the techniques and ideas presented are excellent.One article in particular is worth the price of the book. Fine Woodworking tested the strength of wood joints. They were all glued with Tightbond 3 and the testing procedure was first-rate. The half lap joint was the strongest tested, which surprised me. The complete list is remarkable. The half lap took over 1000 pounds of force to break the joint. Many other joints are tested and the results will improve your woodworking.Get the book.AD2

First, this being a compilation of items that may have appeared previously in Fine Woodworking is a good thing, as that assures the content quality. Second, some have commented negatively about the print format (large book and paper grade). I view this as an asset, as with the typically low Amazon price, one is not apt to protect this book as a collector item! It is meant to be read, put down & then opened wherever and read again! It is meant to be taken into your shop, to try some of the techniques!I'm a very experienced woodworker-well over 45 years now, having served a 4 year carpenter's apprenticeship, then serving 15 years as a journeyman, before leaving the trade to start a manufacturing business (still there). I have a very well equipped shop and spend my spare time there. I have built most of the furniture in our home and also many for others. In this volume, I've found much that is still fresh to me, for just handtool users, for powertool users and for hybrid woodworkers. Cheap price, so who cares if it gets some tattered pages, saw dust in the binding or stains on the cover or pages! It is meant to give you ideas and if a single idea saves me from screwing up a $50 piece of lumber, then the $16 Amazon price has paid me quite the return!

The paperback book is large format(13 5/8 x 10 1/2). It's layout is in progressive sections from tree to projects that you can build and everything in between. Pages 7 - 308 are from the wood(tree) to finishing. Pages 307 - 516 are projects for the beginner to the master craftsman. If you was to know what the best woods for the outdoor, its there. If you want to know how to setup a band saw, its there. How about using a spray gun, its there. Want to know how it make an inlay, its there. I liked the section on hand tools as my dad left me some of his old hand tools. He had two hand planes and I thought I could use them but I did not know how to use them. The information in the book was good enough to me to determine that the planes were not in usable condition. The screws holding the frog on one are stripped and the other was welded back together at the throat. The information is timeless and appears to be articles written and published in the past issues of Fine Woodworking magazine all in one place.

Great Book, Arrived quickly and in great shape, and was just what I wanted.

The original is a large format book with text and illustrations filling every page. The information has survived the conversion to Kindle, but at times it’s a little confusing. It is possible to enlarge the illustrations for a closer look, which is helpful, but not all of the old B&W photos stay clear when you do. That said, this remains a classic collection of woodworking how-to, covering just about everything you need to know to bootstrap yourself from raw apprentice to capable journeyman.

Please don't get me totally wrong here, as the content of the book is very worthwhile and beneficial to all. I would not classify this as a beginners book however. Biggest problem that I have about this book is the fact that I can't seem to do any reading of this item without becoming totally frustrated and "pissed" at the format, print quality, small print, too lightweight pages and too lightweight of binding and backing. Evidently the bookmaker was having problems also as they couldn't even cut the pages square with the binding material on the outside edges. What the hell is this crap shoot of poor judgement calls about anyways? If the publishers wanted to print a book in a newspaper format, why the hell aren't they informing the public of this crap before subjecting us to the turmoil of attempting to read this almost 500 page oversized beast?? The contents ( if you survive your attempt to consume them) are sublime and partially worth the ordeal. You may have to limit the ordeal to say 10 or 15 minute sessions however. This title will also require a large flat "bookshelf" of some sort as any normal storage is out of the question as it is as limp as a wet noodle if you attempt to stand it up like a normal book. PAIN IN The ASS!! DAMN them all to hell for putting a gold mine of useful information in such a poor housing.

Great book with lots of info had this is the USA and ended up selling before I moved to the UK wish I had not sold it as the kindle version sucks deleted it then re installed it and have the same issue with page turning it only goes forward not back. Ended up returning it and will be buying the proper book.

Unwieldy and printed on the stuff Haynes said was too thin. Something akin to 4ply. Maybe consider getting the Kindle version as well

A great inspirational book thank you.

Brilliant, cant wait to use it. The book is a bit flimsy but well worth it.

Zuerst hat mich das Buch (Volumen) erschlagen. Dann nach dem der erste Schock überwunden war began ich drin zu blättern. Es ist sehr gut geschrieben. Alle Artikel sind sehr gut verständlich. Fachwissen wird hier leicht verständlich vermittelt. Ich wurde regelrecht in diesem Buch gefangen.Der äussere Anschein (Softcover) spiegelt nicht den Inhalt wieder.Alle möglichen Arten der Verbindungen werden im Detail beschrieben und das How to wird erklärt. Eines der bESTEN Bücher zu dem Thema.Und vor allem der Untertitel : "Everything You Need to Know to Design, Build, and Create" ist zu 100% zutreffend. Kann ich nur Empfehlen