Chairmaking & Design

Rating:
Summary: A great deal at twice the price!!!!
Review: Finally...a book written about how to build something, for people that don't know how to build it!!! Awsome!!! Takes the fear out of building chairs...well NOT all the fear, but at least most of it.

This is a must have book for first time chair builders!!

Rating:
Summary: It could have better designs
Review: Great book to learn different techniques and jigs to make chairs.
The chairs are a little poor from the design point of view.
There is a video that covers the construction of chairs. The book addresses you to the video most of the time, what makes you think of the book as a mean to sell the tape as well.

I think the book explains very well by itself and no tape is necessary. On the opposite, the video is not very valuable without the book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource and reference for personal projects
Review: I attended my first workshop (on making tables) at Jeff Miller's studio in the summer of 2003. I purchased this book shortly after completing the class. This book is a fantastic way to take Jeff's clear, creative teaching skills home, and has absolutely everything you need to know in order to build chairs, especially if you're doing it on your own and don't have a master craftsperson to call on for help.

I have referred to this book time and again, and am sure other furniture makers will find Jeff's concise but thorough style a terrific and worthwhile addition to both bookshelves and workbenches.

Rating:
Summary: First rate
Review: I have attended several of Jeff's woodworking classes. He is not only a first rate woodworker, he is a first rate instructor. Even if you don't feel ready to try chair making, this book is worth having for the techniques you can learn.

Rating:
Summary: The essential guide to chairmaking.
Review: Right from the opening sentence you will know that you have purchased a well written book by a very experienced chairmaker. Jeff Miller's book is not just filled with terrific plans, instead an emphasis is placed on design. Design decisions, pitfalls, and compromises are all covered in detail. Great for the intermediate or advanced woodworker.

Rating:
Summary: Essential chairmaking resource
Review: There are several books on Windsor and country chair design but this is the only one that will let you produce, say, a set of elegant dining chairs. Miller takes great pains to de-mystify the what is a daunting project for many woodworkers. His projects start basic with each one indroducing principles of design and construction that build throughout the text. The discussion clear and thorough.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty much all you could ask
Review: This is really an excellent book for a woodworker seeking guidance with the particular challenges of chairbuilding.

Most chapters cover some particular chair of the author's creation. Don't worry about whether Miller's designs will appeal or not. Plans are included, but copying them really isn't the point. They're presented here as case studies in conceptualization and construction, with lessons that are widely applicable. For example, how to accurately lay out and cut angled tenons, how to obtain a flat surface on an otherwise curved leg, how to fashion a slip seat, etc. And throughout, Miller details a bunch of clever jigs and methods of work.

A caution: familiarity with the ABCs of furnituremaking and access to some modicum of shop stuff is assumed here. This isn't a beginning woodworking text, which only makes sense, given the subject.