Hardcover 9-1/4 X 10-7/8 in. 304 pages, with color photos and drawings
Published 2005 ISBN 978-1-56158-400-0 Product #070533
Shape is critical to the ultimate success or failure of a piece of furniture. Knowing this, custom-furniture maker Lonnie Bird has taken the complex subject of shaping wood and made it accessible to every woodworker.
In
Shaping Wood, Bird shows you how to dress up your furniture, personalize your work and create period details. Learn to turn, carve, bend, cut and shape with hand tools or machines. All the techniques are in this accessible guide -- from cutting a simple circle to carving a ball-and-claw foot. He leads you through visualizing, drawing a shape and then choosing the appropriate tool for creating it.
- Graphic, step-by-step presentation of key techniques and methods
- Visual maps, cross-references and indexes make information easy to find
- Covers the many woodworking methods and tools available
- Modern, up-to-date coverage of tools and techniques
- Part of a three-volume encyclopedia of woodworking
The Complete Illustrated Guides Introducing a new series of books in the tradition of Tage Frid. All the techniques and processes you need to craft beautiful things from wood are compiled into three comprehensive volumes:
The Complete Illustrated Guides. Highly visual and written by woodworking's finest craftsmen, these three titles --
Furniture and Cabinet Construction, Shaping Wood and
Joinery establish a new standard for shop reference books.
Shape is a fundamental element of design. All furniture styles, even seemingly simple designs such as Shaker, use shape to enhance, increase function, and define style. For example, the sensuous curve of a chair back adds comfort as well as visual appeal, and the slender taper of a table leg creates lightness without sacrificing strength. Shape is critical to the ultimate success or failure of a piece of furniture. It simply can't be ignored.
Before shapes can be created, they must first be visualized and then drawn. There are tools and templates available for drawing geometric shapes; but organic, freeform curves are often best sketched freehand. Fortunately, the natural movements of the wrist and elbow make it possible for anyone to draw flowing curves with a bit of practice.
As I've illustrated in this book, the choices available for shaping are numerous. And it's not necessary to have access to a shop full of power tools, either. Many woodworkers are rediscovering hand tools along with the pleasure and satisfaction that comes with their use. Planes, saws, chisels, and other edge tools all require patience and a degree of skill; but they yield a handmade look and texture as well as a deep sense of accomplishment.
Learning to tune and effectively use power tools can be satisfying, too. And many power tool techniques, such as template shaping, yield efficiency that is unmatched with hand tools. Machines are also a good choice for many labor-intensive tasks, such as planing and sawing stock to size, providing more time for creating details by hand that machines simply can't duplicate. For example, a bandsaw is an efficient choice for sawing a curve in preparation for refining and sculpting the same curve with a spokeshave and a rasp. As a long-time woodworker who seeks pleasure from the craft, I've learned to enjoy both hand and power tools for what each has to offer.
As you explore the pages of this book, it's my hope that you'll be inspired by the creativity and challenge that comes with adding shapes to your next woodworking project.
Customer Reviews from Amazon
Average Customer Review:
Shaping wood, August 5, 2008
This book is a very good resourse for building period furniture with one exception. The author's shop is tooled much better than the average shop and he assumes the his readers have the same tools that he does. So far, I have worked out an alternate method of accomplishing the tasks without different tools. The book gave me the basics and I was forced to do some complex problem solving so I have to thank the author for giving me the opportunity to build up my brain power.
Many of Birds working secrets, May 5, 2008
What a great book! Very useful, nice functional layout. This is a shop manual more then a book for causal reading.
I believe every successful woodworker possess their own 'Secrets of the Craft'. These are time-tested methodolgies made unique by each craftsmen. Bird goes into great detail about how and more importantly WHY he chooses one method over another in almost every topic.
This is one book that should be sitting near your bench, and not stored with your (often unopened) machine manuals.
To bardzo dobra ksiazka! Dla mnie to **********, February 8, 2008
Jest to naprawde dobra pozycja. Mialem okazje korespondowac z autorem i jest to naprawde mily gosc! Ksiazka jest prawdziwa skarbnica wiedzy. Jest dobrze ilustrowana. Jej poziom merytoryczny jest naprawde wysoki. Na polskim rynku trudno bedzie znalesc taka pozycje
(Przepraszam wszystkich za brak polskich znakow diakrytycznych ale to wina systemu informatycznego Amazon. Polskie znaki zmieniane sa na krzaki i dlatego z nich zrezygnowalem)
One of the best book on the subject., January 12, 2007
Shaping wood by Lonnie Bird is one of the best book I have read on the subject.
Written in a clear and simple style, illustrated by hundreds of beautifull color pictures, this book will take you through a journey that will introduce you to all the different techniques that can be use to shape wood.
You will find it all, cutting complex compound curves, molding, turning, carving and bending.
the complete illustrated guide to shaping wood, January 3, 2007
Fabolous book,excellent easy to follow tips,very well photographed,excellent help around the workshop
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