Customer Reviews

Chairmaking & Design

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4 star:		(2)
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Finally...a book written about how to build something, for people that don't know how to build it!!! Awsome!!! Takes the fear out of building chairs...well NOT all the fear, but at least most of it.

This is a must have book for first time chair builders!!

I bought this book about eight months ago when I needed some chairs for the living room. I ended up making two of the chairs in the book using some basic tools like a drill and a jigsaw. The instructions were clear and the chairs have held up well so far. The chair designs that were used are more on a formal side, better suited for sitting at a dining table. There is also some instruction on making your own designs for chairs as well as variety of examples. Overall a great addition to my woodworking library.

I am now in the process of completing my 15th chair. I used the designs from this book with a great deal of success for the last nine. The author gives some insightful details I hadn't thought of before I got this book. The designs are fairly straight forward and progress from easy to harder chairs. I have found that the harder chairs certainly take some practice before trying to tackle them. A couple of things I would have liked to see would have been:
1. A cut list. No cut list or take off list is provided for the designs which means you have to look at each piece, count them up, and get their measurements;
2. A board foot total. Before beginning a chair or set of chairs, I always cost it out based on the materials I am going to use. Without a cut list this takes time, but then I needed to know how much wood to order and how much to budget for each chair.
3. Variations in seats. One area lacking was seats. There are several designs, but I am working with solid wood seats and most of the ones shown are cloth or woven inset seats. This doesn't help in educating me in dishing out of the seats or attaching them or issues with wood movement.
4. Wood bending. There needs to be more info on wood bending and curved parts for chairs. I found out the hard way that the exotic woods I was using wouldn't bend and couldn't be laminated in thin strips to bend it. Perhaps I should have used the encyclopedia of wood first (due to complaints on the first chair from my wife, I needed curved pieces vice straight ones, and I already had the wood purchased and had it sent to our remote location).

If you want to make a decent basic chair or are looking for a few ideas for chairs (I modified some of them), then this book will work for you. One thing I did like was the pictures of unusual chairs in the photo gallery.

I attended my first workshop (on making tables) at Jeff Miller's studio in the summer of 2003. I purchased this book shortly after completing the class. This book is a fantastic way to take Jeff's clear, creative teaching skills home, and has absolutely everything you need to know in order to build chairs, especially if you're doing it on your own and don't have a master craftsperson to call on for help.

I have referred to this book time and again, and am sure other furniture makers will find Jeff's concise but thorough style a terrific and worthwhile addition to both bookshelves and workbenches.

This is really an excellent book for a woodworker seeking guidance with the particular challenges of chairbuilding.

Most chapters cover some particular chair of the author's creation. Don't worry about whether Miller's designs will appeal or not. Plans are included, but copying them really isn't the point. They're presented here as case studies in conceptualization and construction, with lessons that are widely applicable. For example, how to accurately lay out and cut angled tenons, how to obtain a flat surface on an otherwise curved leg, how to fashion a slip seat, etc. And throughout, Miller details a bunch of clever jigs and methods of work.

A caution: familiarity with the ABCs of furnituremaking and access to some modicum of shop stuff is assumed here. This isn't a beginning woodworking text, which only makes sense, given the subject.

Great book to learn different techniques and jigs to make chairs.
The chairs are a little poor from the design point of view.
There is a video that covers the construction of chairs. The book addresses you to the video most of the time, what makes you think of the book as a mean to sell the tape as well.

I think the book explains very well by itself and no tape is necessary. On the opposite, the video is not very valuable without the book.

I have attended several of Jeff's woodworking classes. He is not only a first rate woodworker, he is a first rate instructor. Even if you don't feel ready to try chair making, this book is worth having for the techniques you can learn.

Right from the opening sentence you will know that you have purchased a well written book by a very experienced chairmaker. Jeff Miller's book is not just filled with terrific plans, instead an emphasis is placed on design. Design decisions, pitfalls, and compromises are all covered in detail. Great for the intermediate or advanced woodworker.