Furniture-Making Projects for the Wood Craftsman
Paul Richardson, Mark Applegate, John Royall, et. al.

Review by Mark Gezella – March 2004

I seem to have developed an affinity for books that originate from England and/or surrounding areas lately. This latest review describes a book published in the United Kingdom.

"Furniture-Making Projects" is actually a group of articles reprinted as a "best-of" series from Furniture & Cabinetmaking Magazine (a British publication). There are twenty-four distinct articles by fifteen different furniture builders. The focus of each article is a specific piece of furniture. Most deal with pieces you would expect; e.g., desks, tables, chairs, beds, etc. though a couple of articles deal with some rather unique items such as a musician's chair and a folding screen.

The furniture group represents quite a range of styles too. The book has everything from a 16th century trestle-table to a contemporary carousel for CD's and cassettes. One entry even describes a pretty hardwood desk done in the Shaker style, which harkens back to last month's newsletter article. I'm also under the impression that folks abroad like simulated linen-folds in their furniture. I've seen it used in many pieces I've read about, and this book is no exception. A furniture maker used carved linen-fold panels extensively in a chest used to hold - what else? Linens!

All articles are fully illustrated. In fact, that's what caught my attention as I thumbed through the book. I really like the way the publisher mixed pictures with full-color drawings to present views of a given item. There's something about the presentation that inspires me - I think it's the colors; they're very sharp and vibrant. Everything has a "brand-new" look to it.

The reading is slightly difficult to comprehend at times, much like I described in past reviews about books from English publishers. Terms such as cramping instead of clamping along with Old-English spelling (how do you say "centre"?!) may cause you to stumble through the text as you read (I suggest reading it while you're seated!). However, the difference in dialect does not detract from the obvious ability of the crafts-people. Their products are quite wonderful; there are several examples of fine furniture in highly figured English Oak which really stand out.

One thing that did kind of surprise me though, was a bookcase they saved for the last entry in the book. It's a rough-sawn bookcase made out of planks and picture wire. It looks really...uh, how should I say it, um...crummy! I shouldn't be critical, but it's just a few planks of lime bolted together with some wire to keep it square!! I guess folks with sophisticated tastes would probably marvel at it, but to me it looks like it needs one of our Guild members to finish it properly!!!

Something I found fascinating was an information "box" on one of the pages that described a proportioning system called "Hambridge Rectangles". It is basically a formula for laying out a proportionately smaller sets of rectangles for things
like drawer chests. It is employed when you don't want each drawer to be the same size. It's based on what they call the Golden Section, or a ratio of 1.6180339. I think this is also referred to as the Divine Proportion, which received much notoriety of late thanks to the book "The DaVinci Code", but that's a subject for an entirely different book review! Anyway - I digress...the finished chest in the article shows how attractive this design it can be - just another example of how styles can vary.

This is a soft cover entry in our library, but a good book none-the-less. It presents some great examples of English furniture-makers and the fine furniture they have produced. I hope you find time to borrow it at some point. It is currently available for checkout in the Guild library.