Reddit reviews Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking Book I: Joinery

Oh, geez. Not Ana White. She doesn't know the first thing about joinery and her stuff is to woodworking as heating a can of spaghetti is to cooking. It is inadequate and doesn't teach you anything you need to know.

If you want to do some real woodworking, start with Tage Frid's books. Tage teaches you how to do real joinery both with hand and power tools. Traditional joinery is the difference between something left out for trash collection in a few years and a piece of furniture that gets used for 300 years. (Yes, well-made furniture will last that long or longer.) Screws and pocket jig stuff just doesn't hold up the way joinery techniques that have been used for hundreds of years will. Further, traditional joinery is not difficult and doesn't take much more time.

Second, learn about proportions and design. A good place to start is with the number Phi, also known as the Golden Section. There are other ways to proportion, but Phi always gives pleasing results. If you've never heard of 1.618 before, it's a little mind-blowing. You'll start seeing it everywhere.

Once you start sketching things out using Phi and using traditional joinery, you'll be making beautiful things that last for a very long time. Do not waste your time with crap. Make something wonderful that will still be in your family 200 years from now.

All my planes are Stanleys picked up off ebay. I think I learned the most from this book by chris Schwarz and the books by Tage Frid. I just went to a Lie-Nielsen handtool event, and only tried one plane - I quickly put it down and went to something else. They're wonderful, but I really can't afford them right now.

Tage Frid Teaches woodworking Book I: Joinery

Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking, Books 1,2,3: Joinery; Shaping, Veneering, Finishing; Furniture making

I love this book: Tage Frid Woodworking Book I: Joinery

He really goes start to finish and step by step for all different types of joints. $5 used on Amazon