The Complete Illustrated Guide To Joinery (Complete Illustrated Guides) Hardcover – January 15, 2002

This was the third book out of the series that I purchased. I loved Cabinet Construction and Shaping Wood and couldn't wait to get this one. I would have to disagree on the other reviews concerning this book. I found the book to be not only informative but quite a work of art in itself.Some people are wondering what audience the book is trying to target. Obviously if you consider yourself 'advanced', then you should not be needing a book on woodworking.Although I feel the book is intended for intermediate woodworkers, I beleive this book would be of use to a 'beginner' as well because it gives the reader something to shoot for. It has hundreds of photos of beautifully crafted joints. Some of these joints I have never seen before. Joints like the "Cogged Scarf" is not only imaginative but looks fun to make. This is a joint that I would probably never thought about until this book. That is how I started in woodworking. I saw something that I wanted to make and I went about learning how to do it.Some people are unhappy because of the detail of instructions. Well the joints are explained with text and pictures. I would agree that the book does not 'hold your hand' on every single step. But then how many of us have learned woodworking by reading a book? We learned it by getting outside and doing it. What is nice about this book is that it gives you the basics of what you need to know to make the joint and the rich color photographs that show you what you could achieve.I would imagine that you could go into any bookstore and find in their woodworking section a book on joints. However, I believe you would be hard pressed to find a book of this caliber on the subject.

I can't give the book a 1 star, because the content is a 5 star. I did buy it used and the description said it was in good shape. The entire cover and spine was torn from the innards! Very frustrating! I ended up returning it.The content, however was great! Very helpful information. A lot of great pictures and details. I read another review where someone complained about the fact that it didn't tell you what each joint was for...no application info, and he referred to another book that did. Well I have that book as well. While he is right, there are issues with the other book, too. Really, buying both isn't a bad idea. I do like this one better, great details and pictures.

I’m a diy woodworker hobbyist that is getting back into the hobby. I bought several beginner books and they cover the common joints. This book however is awesome it’s goes above and beyond the the level of information. Personally if you are using joints I think this a must have book. Especially if you are new or a novice at joinery or woodworking or both. Buy it!

The media could not be loaded. This book as the title says about wood working joinery. The book is full with illustrative pictures and if you’re an established woodworker this will be an amazing Guide whether you’re using hand tools, power tools or big machinery.

This is hands-down the best book I've read that covers the spectrum of joinery. It goes over every type of joint you can imagine (biscuit, dovetail, pocket, spline, etc) with great pictures. It's great as a reference for an experienced woodworker or as a basic training manual for the beginner. In that respect, it's awesome.That said, it's limited in how much detail it can cover for each type of joinery. In just a page or two for most types, it's not really possible to address the pros and cons of each type (esp which types are good in different situations), without making the book way too long.I've seen magazines that do stress testing on multiple types of joints to see which is the strongest and which are the most attractive, etc, and it would have been nice to see this book put a little more effort into mentioning things like when you're making bookshelves, you might consider this type of joint or that type of joint and try to avoid such-and-such a joint. Also, just because it had so much ground to cover, the book doesn't do a step by step. I guess that's understandable though, given all the types out there. I guess you'd need a whole 5 volume set to cover it much better.

It's an introductory book on joinery. As a beginner, I needed something like this to start.

If you are looking for an easy to use reference manual for common joinery, this is your jam.If the military wrote a field manual for joinery, this would be the equivalent of SERE school.Everything is explained in epiphany- yielding precision. Exercises and practice are encouraged throughout the book, too!Taunton never fails to deliver.Beginners? Have you been looking for a manual that doesn't leave the key details out (you know, the kind that seem to withhold key information for some pretentious reason)- this manual is going to inspire and educate you.Pictures are clear, descriptions are thorough with plenty of footnotes and internal references. The language is concise and only relevant to the subject.Advanced cats? Wanna get to the bones of the sketches in "the soul of a tree" ???Here is your launch pad.