The Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery: 1,400+ Step-by-Step Photos and Diagrams for Flawless Wood Construction

Bought used and is in excellent condition. The information is comprehensive and detailed, and the pictures are stunning. I am learning a lot and always become excited/inspired in my wood working hobby with this book. It goes over innumerable joints. The photos are just an example of the splined joints.

This was the third book out of the series that I purchased. I loved Cabinet Construction and Shaping Wood and couldn't wait to get this one. I would have to disagree on the other reviews concerning this book. I found the book to be not only informative but quite a work of art in itself. Some people are wondering what audience the book is trying to target. Obviously if you consider yourself 'advanced', then you should not be needing a book on woodworking. Although I feel the book is intended for intermediate woodworkers, I beleive this book would be of use to a 'beginner' as well because it gives the reader something to shoot for. It has hundreds of photos of beautifully crafted joints. Some of these joints I have never seen before. Joints like the "Cogged Scarf" is not only imaginative but looks fun to make. This is a joint that I would probably never thought about until this book. That is how I started in woodworking. I saw something that I wanted to make and I went about learning how to do it. Some people are unhappy because of the detail of instructions. Well the joints are explained with text and pictures. I would agree that the book does not 'hold your hand' on every single step. But then how many of us have learned woodworking by reading a book? We learned it by getting outside and doing it. What is nice about this book is that it gives you the basics of what you need to know to make the joint and the rich color photographs that show you what you could achieve. I would imagine that you could go into any bookstore and find in their woodworking section a book on joints. However, I believe you would be hard pressed to find a book of this caliber on the subject.

The Bible for American wood joinery

What I nice book . Easy ,informative , Pictures, user friendly.

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.

The subject might be a bit narrow for a lot of people, but if you enjoy woodworking (let's face it, the pros have 20 years of daily experience and aren't going to need books), this book is amazing. With over 30 years of hobby experience, I still learned a lot from this book and found it a far better (and convenient) resource than any other book. More convenient than the web, even. Content is comprehensive. Some comments about "missing information" from other reviews makes me think they hadn't read the whole book. Most joins are covered at least twice. Once generally, to explain why you'd want to the method and what to expect, concerns and cautions, etc. The join will then be covered a second time, and in greater detail showing the steps and highlighting the things you need to watch. Excellent color images everywhere. While this doesn't show every last step in the process, it shows just enough to help anyone with even a little exposure to the basic tools... saw, chisel, etc. In terms of the book, itself, the quality of materials, binding, printing... everything is top notch. Very heavy for it's size, too. You could have this as a coffee-table book if you wanted. Short of being leather bound, I don't know what they could do to improve appearance and construction. I now have three favorite woodworking books, this one for joints, one on tools, and one on the wood itself.

I can't give the book a 1 star, because the content is a 5 star. I did buy it used and the description said it was in good shape. The entire cover and spine was torn from the innards! Very frustrating! I ended up returning it. The content, however was great! Very helpful information. A lot of great pictures and details. I read another review where someone complained about the fact that it didn't tell you what each joint was for...no application info, and he referred to another book that did. Well I have that book as well. While he is right, there are issues with the other book, too. Really, buying both isn't a bad idea. I do like this one better, great details and pictures.

I’m a diy woodworker hobbyist that is getting back into the hobby. I bought several beginner books and they cover the common joints. This book however is awesome it’s goes above and beyond the the level of information. Personally if you are using joints I think this a must have book. Especially if you are new or a novice at joinery or woodworking or both. Buy it!

日本には木工工作の書籍はあるようでない。特に、刃物に木工材料をあてて加工するところの書は非常に少ない。 この書を含めたシリーズの書籍を５冊購入した。文章は辞書を引いて読んでいるが、写真が多いための、工作するには支障がない。 技術内容は初級〜中級の技術書である。 参考にして本格的な家具を作ることができた。

Un libro che già conoscevo scritto in inglese ma sempre bello ricco di illustrazioni e spiegazioni

Nice balance of using hand tools and machines. Lots of practical advice. The book has a double binding so it will open flat.

There is everything needed for making joints.Only disantvage is the weight of the book.......

Don't buy this ebook as it doesn't download correctly all you get is the cover page