Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9570 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 252 pages

Customer Reviews

In truth - "A Timber Framers Workshop"
Unlike most books with similar titles, this one truly is exactly what it says - a practical workshop - or to be more precise, a composite of several such workshops skilfully melded into a single coherent text.

The book breaks the timber framer's art, and science, into discrete chapters, each with a clear focus and gives each adequate coverage. All recommendations given in the text are well supported by the "whys and wherefores" and the more technically inclined will find thorough analyses of each aspect of frame design and practice.

The authors writing style is relaxed, fluent and easy to read, yet clearly spoken with the authority of a master craftsman. The illustrations, both photographs and line drawings, are clear and informative with direct relevance to the associated text and are placed in proximity to the relevant text.

As a handbook for the principles of timber frame design it would be hard to surpass, though I would also not want to miss out on Tedd Benson's "Building the Timber Frame House"! There is, as one would expect, considerable overlap in the subject areas but the difference in publishing date, writing styles and presentation make these two fine books far more complementary than might otherwise be imagined. My advice is to buy and read, both.

From the viewpoint of a European, the absence of metric data may seem an omission but is not a vital one: the principles apply equally wherever one is working and conversion of the technical data provided is a simple matter. I would like to have seen cladding and external finishing covered by the book but equally recognise that this would have highlighted the differences between US and UK practices, possibly diminishing its relevance to non-US locations.

Although I have worked on one reasonably modest and one spectacularly large framing project, whetting my appetite for the craft, I am by no means an expert - barely a novice. This book is going to be my guiding companion on the "next great adeventure" - building my own timber frame home. I have every confidence in my chosen guide.

NOTHING TO ADD AND NOTHING TO TAKE AWAY
The other review says it all, really. As a professional carpenter/joiner, specialising in older properties, I can testify to this book's ability to do what it says on the tin. Quite why the Americans have that unique ability to express their expertise without bullshit or cultural pretension always fascinates me - they just get on with it. I'd recommend this book to anyone, professional (you can never know it all) or amateur (you have to have a good starting point) without hesitation.