The Workshop Book (Craftsman's Guide to)

Rating:
Summary: Read it in the bookstore before you buy it.
Review: I did, and decided I didn't need it. There is good advice here - lots of input on space requirements and lighting, but page after page, I was just left wanting something more. The shops don't look "real" to me - they are obviously tremendously expensive and usually look sterile and impersonal. The men in them don't seem to particularly enjoy their work. They all look like a bunch of New York attorneys working in their hobby shops at their Connecticut hobby farms. I know that's not a fair characterization, and was certainly not the intent, but it was my persistent gut reaction. Too many of them looked like Norm Abram's infamous shop where there was a power tool for every purpose. None of them had the warm, inviting glow of Roy Underhill's shop, which draws you in for a cup of tea and joke by the woodstove.

"The Workbench Book" and "The Toolbox Book" were both joyful and gorgeous and pulled me along, but this one just made me feel like I needed to tear my shop down and start over, although that was not what the author was hoping to achieve. But look at it for yourself, at the library, and see what you think, before you buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing if you're looking for practical advice
Review: I found this book disappointing, but perhaps I was looking for the wrong things in it. I was hoping for some guidance and information on setting up a home workshop, but that's not what I found.

The book is a sort-of survey, sort-of essay on workshops of various kinds, including historical shops dating back hundreds of years. There's a lot of discussion of how various workers have set up their shops, but the descriptions are overviews lacking in much detail. And many of the shops described are atypical in one way or another. For example, the author returns over and over to the couple who turned their entire two-story house into a guitar-making shop, with separate rooms for shaping, finishing, wood storage and the like. Interesting, but not very helpful to me.

If you're looking for a portrayal of, and a lot of discussion about, workshops in all their variety, then you may very well love this book. But if you're looking for something that will help you decide how to set up your own shop, you won't find much here.

Rating:
Summary: Woodworking With a Human Interest Side
Review: I have bought many woodworking books but this one is a rarity-I read it from cover to cover. It has many useful tips for designing a shop but the most interesting part was his focus on the owners of the shops. It describes the wonderful variety of woodworkers as well as their shops and interests.

Rating:
Summary: This is a great book
Review: This book is split into comprehensive chapters on layout, machinery, etc. Covers topics such as ergonomics, workflow, special applications, etc. A practical and useful guide, much better than the workbench book by the same author which basically amounts to a coffee table book with pretty pictures.