Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking (688 pages) is essentially a college course in woodworking and specifically furniture-making distilled into three, easy to read, volumes. Tage Frid moved from Denmark to the US following WWII and after completing an apprenticeship in furniture making.
- The first book, "Joinery," explains the importance of understanding how joinery works, why we choose certain joints for certain tasks, and that wood furniture is basically a series of joints with lumber in between. Every piece of furniture, or anything made of wood, begins by choosing how the individual pieces will be attached to one another. This is not a hand tool or power tool book, Tage Frid recommends using the most efficient tool for the job with an emphasis on production. He believed that if you understand the joinery, understand the tools and machines, you could create any piece of furniture by hand, with power, or preferably a combination of both. It's the difference between learning how to build a table, a stool, an armoire; and understanding joinery so that you can build anything.
- Book two, "Shaping, Veneering, Finishing," covers diverse subjects such as turning, carving, plywood and veneers, inlays, and finishing.
- Book three, "Furnituremaking," dives into the deep end of producing furniture and shows how to apply the previous volumes to produce your own furniture. Plans and instruction for reproducing a number of Tage Frid's own designs like his famous three legged stool, are included.
Understanding Wood Finishing (320 pages) By Bob Flexner.
Flexner is a furniture refinisher, the information in this book is excellent and will set any hobbyist on the right path to getting a good finish. This is a great book and it will answer many common finishing questions before you have to ask. I disagree with some of his claims made in blogs, but the information he puts in print is solid.
[Note, there are other great finishing books. This is one I own and it has never steered me wrong]
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