Fine Decorative Wood Boxes

Rating:
Summary: Buy this one last....
Review: If you check out my other reviews on box making books, you will want to start with one of those first. Box Making Basic's, by David m. Freedman, or Box Making, by Doug Stowe. After mastering the basic techniques and you feel confident in your box making talents, go ahead and purchase this book. Mr Crawford designs and makes beautiful art boxes, and his book is very good at taking your thru the steps to make your own variations of his creations. Nice section on tools, their care and use. Real good sections on selecting woods and veneers. Lots of pictures and diagrams to assist you in constructing the 10 projects contained in the book. Mr Crawford does a lot of inlay and veneer work. This is the reason you want to have the basic's firmly in hand before moving on to these projects. It's a new ballgame here. I have been making boxes for quite awhile, and some of mine have been fairly exotic, but Mr Crawford's book is way up there in the "WOW" factor. Especially the gallery portion at the rear of the book, featuring other artist's work. With all that said this is a "working mans" book. You can tell that he wants you to understand how to do this type of work and goes to great lengths to help you accomplish a finished product. As in most of these type of books, the author is attempting to teach you the basic's with tried and true designs, but expects you to supply the imagination to go beyond what is contained in the book. This is an excellent book, a welcome addition to my "library" and I highly recommend it.