Illustrated Cabinetmaking: How to Design and Construct Furniture That Works (American Woodworker)

by Bill Hylton

Book Overview

Design and construct furniture that works with the help of the most complete visual guide ever published. Featuring each piece in highly-detailed, exploded drawings and applying time-honored dimensions and ergonomic standards, this comprehensive visual sourcebook takes the guesswork out of furniture joinery, assembly, dimension, and style. Woodworkers of any skill level will benefit from more than 1,300 crisp and detailed drawings that explain classic...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565233697
• ISBN13: 9781565233690
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.5" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Good Reference

Illustrated Cabinetmaking: How to Design and Construct Furniture That Works This is a good reference for someone starting out in furniture making. It gives design/construction information (with dimensions) that is valuable to have in one place. I wish I had this forty years ago it would have accelerated my learning curve and avoided some mistakes.

The BEST resource on furniture construction!

I own probably a half dozen books on furniture construction and joinery and found this book to be the best source for joinery techniques period. From it's detailed explanations to numerous pictures and drawings it thoroughly covers all aspects of great cabinetry. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I am not a book reader. The chapters are laid out well and are written as though a beginner might be picking it up, but don't let that fool you, this is a book an experienced woodworker will enjoy as well. There are tons of ideas and explanatory plans, while these plans are not measured drawings or as detailed as some other book, I feel they provide enough information to develop your own set of plans from. Most of the plans cover height, width and depth only, but the joinery is covered and the general concepts are there. As a professional finish carpenter by trade and a furniture builder for fun and profit I find this book a great reference tool as well, I use it often. I highly recommend it for any serious woodworkers library.

One of the BEST woodworking books I own!

This book is very complete covering fundamentals of furniture anatomy, styles, and wood movement, various joints, subassemblies used in all kinds of projects, and Furniture. This is a great book for the beginner or professional. Provides a lot of good inspiration as well. Dining tables, occasional tables, desks, chests, cabinets, built-in cabinets, and beds are all of the Furniture types covered. Beautifuly illustrated with exploded plans of how all of the parts go together... I can thumb through it and end up reading it for hours!! It's just really a very great book to own if you're interested in woodworking. It seems I always have within an arms reach! I love it!

Excellent Reference

I like to check out books from the library before I buy them. I checked this one out, now I'm buying it.As a novice woodworker, I anticipate this will be an excellent reference as I move forward with designing and building cabinets, tables, and chairs.It's not a how-to book, it's a reference. So when I'm wondering how I'm going to design a small cabinet with four drawers and a television cabinet for the bedroom, this book will give me options and ideas from casework to drawers to what goes on the bottom and what goes on the top.I think it's a great reference.

Outstanding Book

This is an outstanding book. Shows styles and variations of just about all desired furniture pieces. Even though it does not show methods of work or measurments it is a MUST for any woodworker. It is a sure straight line reference to any project of furniture making.

Tons of illustrations of techniques and furniture!

This book is a wealth of ideas and illustrations. Every page has an illustration (non measured drawing) giving details of types of joinery, moldings, etc. that can be used in furniture making. The book is also a staring point to get ideas how furniture can be built. It illustrates how hundreds of types of furniture (beds, cabinets of all sorts,...) can be built according to different styles. This is no cookbook for furniture (such as "Country Pine Furniture" from the same author), but it is ideal for people who have acquired a little assurance in building furniture and are ready to make their first (or second) steps in designing their own.