Book Review: Mid-Century Modern Furniture: Shop Drawings & Techniques for Making 29 Projects by Michael Crow

 

I read the Kindle version. The first 25% of the book is the history of mid-century modern and basic how-to woodworking, the general fluff that is common and frustrating in woodworking books. The woodworking how-to in particular is pointless as this book is aimed at intermediate or higher skill level woodworkers. To build these pieces you should already have an understanding of joinery, wood movement and the ability to read and build from minimalist plans. Most of the pieces are sketchup renderings only and I assume were never actually built by Michael Crowe. That isn't necessarily bad but you will be building untested plans. Typically you get a 3D rendering, an isometric exploded view with joinery, a 2D drawing with finished dimensions not including joinery, a cut list, and written instructions. The ones that have actually been built will have photos. When planning cuts, make sure to double check that the cut list allows for tenons. I spot checked and those did although the tenons on one were very short. On the Kindle version the pictures are clear, the cut lists easily readable, but I had to zoom in to read fractions. I definitely want to try some of the pieces in this book. Overall Michael Crowe has done an excellent job with the drawings and research. This book is definitely worth owning if you'd like to build mid-century furniture and I would love to see a Part II with even more designs.

You can purchase this book from Amazon.

Easy to construct marking gauge

Simple to construct marking gauge from walnut & holly. The only in-progress photo but a plan is included. 

A marking gauge has four main parts: fence, beam, thumbscrew, and a blade or pin. The four piece beam makes this gauge simpler to construct. Here it is three pieces of 1/4 x 5/8 walnut and one piece of 1/4 x 5/8 x 3/4 holly. Screws into end grain tend to strip so the holly is rotated 90°.

The fence can be one piece but I inlaid a strip of holly for wear resistance and because it looks nice. [note: the plan above has an error showing the holly wear strip on the wrong side of the fence] A hole is drill about 1" back from the fence for a 1/4x20 threaded insert. Thumbscrews can be purchased or shop made, I made mine from a 1/4x20 bolt and walnut scrap. The blade is an old jigsaw blade, the type attached with a screw, snapped off and sharpened a bit below the screw hole.

The blade was scored with a file, pinched in a vise along the score line then snapped. Watch your eyes.