This book has been one of the biggest influences on my woodworking style. There are a lot of projects included in this book that I still plan to build at some point in time and I’ll try to update this page each time I do. If you’re just getting into fine woodworking this should be the first book you buy because it will help you build an understanding of what size things should be. You can start to understand the typical size of tenons or how far apart certain joints should be and it’s a good reference when you start designing your own furniture.

Starting off with some history of the Craftsman building style the book covers some common materials, hardware, joinery, and inlays. To be honest, I haven’t read this front section all the way through yet because it’s a lot of textbook like reading and mostly covers basic woodworking theory. It’s not that it’s not worth reading you just have to be in the right mindset for reading.

Onto what makes this book amazing, the shop drawings. Each piece in this book includes multiple pages of detailed 2D drawings as well as a full component/cut list. As I mentioned previously this book is great for anyone who is getting into fine woodworking because you can build an understanding of common components and sizes. You can study pieces that have been sold for the past hundred years and are still selling today because the designs are timeless. Due to copyright laws, I can’t show any of the pages from this book, so you’ll have to take my word for it, the drawings are basically full plans with every measurement you’ll need to make the pieces for yourself. This book is the one I reach for every time I start the design of a new piece.