Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154898 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Customer Reviews

4 tools
With this book and 4 tools, you will become an instant craftsman (in your own mind at least). Lois Ventura will show even a novice (a little experience in the required tools is necessary) how to create magnificent artful boxes using just a bandsaw, jointer (although you can always substitute a sander and time for this), a belt sander and a palm sander. Thanx to this book, I'm turning $100 into $500-$700 worth of Christmas presents (already own the tools). Once I create some custom designs, I will also have a new side business.

Best book I've ever purchased.

Excellent resource for learning from a Pro.....
I received this book as a Christmas gift and was immediatly impressed with the photography and layout of the book. Ms Ventura is a fine writer and waste's no time in getting you hooked into the art of bandsaw boxes. I had often admired boxes made with bandsaws but had not quite figured out how the whole process was accomplished. This book covers it all, equipment and tools needed, selecting materials, laminating, layout, cutting and finishing. The resource section is a bonus. As an added bonus she supplies you with the templates for a good number of her famous designs, with tips to allow you to accomplish the fit and finish they each deserve. They are all designed to be made with a standard 14" bandsaw and one of the best hints is, she use's one blade for everything. She suggests alternate methods for shaping and sanding if you do not possess some of the machines that she routinely uses and encourages you to use your own imagination and creativity. I have been making jewelry boxes and toy boxes for some time now, and while I enjoy making them sometimes I wish I could get away from the standard "square" box. This book has shown me a definite alternative and I will be adding bandsaw boxes to my list of projects. Great book, can't rate it high enough.

Not for the seasoned woodworker
This book came highly recommended from a number of trusted sources. I was rather disappointed to discover that less than 25% of the material is specific to actually making these boxes. Of the remainder of the book approx 25% is general woodworking background/skills and the other half patterns and designs. Now the problem with the designs is that they are all very similar. It looks like the author has taken the box from the cover and cut into four then rearranged the constituent parts in different permutations.

This is an interesting technique and these boxes are aesthetically pleasing, which is what drew me to the book in the first place but there is insufficient meaterial here to sensibly create a book from and would be better suited as a section in a more general box making book.

This book may be suitable for readers who are only interested in making bandsaw boxes and have no previous woodworking skills but I suspect that this is the minority of cases. For the rest of us there is too much fluff and not enough meat.