Bookcases, Outstanding Projects from America's Best Craftsmen

Featuring beautiful projects in a wide range of styles from some of America's finest cabinetmakers, Chests of Drawers is the fifth book in Taunton's Furniture Projects series. Each of the seven projects includes clear instructions, measured drawings and cut lists.

Bookcases are one of the most accessible and commonly built projects – who doesnt need or want open storage for their homes? The projects in this book cover a range of styles and difficulty – and they all are designed by well-known custom woodworkers from around the country. Clear step-by-step instructions guide you through the building of each project, and exploded and measured drawings show every detail.

Among the projects:

* Shaker-style bookcase with glass doors from Christian Becksvoort
* Arts and Crafts bookcase from Kevin Rodel
* Country Colonial bookcase from Randy O'Donnell
* Shaker-style wall shelf from Peter Turner
* Barrister bookcase from Curtis Erpelding
* Step-back bookcase from Niall Barrett

Review:

I'm new to amazon, but do a column of book reviews on Wood Central.com for woodworkers. My reviews are a little different, because I take time to really read the volumes I select to write about. Reading Bill Hylton is like having him in the room beside you while you are learning. He has a down home, friendly writing style that anticipates the beginner's deficiencies and guards against errors that might become costly. I bought this book instead of waiting for a review copy to come my way, because I know Hylton's work from his router and cabinetry books.

'Chests of Drawers' is one of a series of 'Projects from America's Best Craftsmen' by Taunton Press. It includes seven projects, which doesn't sound like much, but in those seven projects, Hylton succeeds in getting across the basics of a variety of chest constructions, including bowfronts, triple dressers, blanket chests, tall chests, a Queen Anne chest on cabriole legs, and sheet-goods casework. It would be easy to take any of the seven projects presented, and adapt their construction to a wide variety of chests of drawers.
The discussions of built-up moldings and how they are made is a lesson in woodworking in general. These ideas would be usable on other types of furniture pieces, as would the instruction in bent laminations, string inlay and shop-made pulls. Hylton is an authority with the router, and in this book he gives many hints and tips on using it to complete drawer construction, mortises, base moldings, and dovetails.

Not all the projects are centered around expensive solid hardwoods. One double dresser, which could be adapted to a single chest, uses veneered sheet goods with biscuits, pocket-hole joinery and commercial drawer runners to keep down the cost, but you wouldn't know it to look at it. Simple, clean lines in an understated style lend it a spare elegance akin to Shaker furniture.

At the opposite end of the scale is the Qeen Anne chest on stand, with dovetailed case sides, dovetailed drawers resting on web frame infrastructure, and molding attached with sliding dovetails cut to allow for wood movement. The stand is an ogee profile, spline-mitered frame with pinnned tenons attaching rails to the bandsawn legs. When I'm ready to attempt that project, I'll be glad Bill Hylton is within reach. His step by step guidance through the complicated procedures is easily understandable, and well illustrated with clear color photos.

Of the many, many books I am offered to review, this one is definitely a 'keeper.' It is clear enough in its procedures to encourage a beginning woodworker, and has enough advanced pieces in it to serve as a skill-building exercise for the more experienced woodworker. I give it five stars. Written for the serious woodworker wanting to improve his or her skills, this book deserves every one of them.