A value in compendium books not thought of before

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
So...few weeks back i picked up a Popular Woodworking Table Projects book. Super cheap on clear out at Lv for either $5 or $8. Well its raining here today and before going out to shop i started browsing the book.
Nothing like a book like this to get u in shop mood. :)
I was looking through and checking out how one guy in the collection of 35 projects was doing inlay on a Baltimore card table then moved on to another project.

Then it hit me ....what a brilliant way to get insights into how different advanced woodworkers tackle various tasks.
Think about this. A project book with excellent descriptions and loads of great color pics taking u through 35 table projects of all kinds covers one heck of a load of techniques but the good thing in my view is rather than just being about say "how to make a mortise joint" shows u a dozen ways u can do it through each projects authors view.
So here a book on table projects becomes way way more and all that for a price of a few $$.

I dont if the compilers had this idea in mind but it certainly is worth taking note of when next u see a book like this on sale. You may not need or want to make a table but that dont mean it dont hold a ton of other real good value in it.
Besides many of these techniques can be used on just about any other project.
I LOVE THIS BOOK AND BOOKS IN GENERAL...to think my mother thought i did not like to read. :)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003YL4AO4



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Well said Rob. I don't do many project off of plans and how-to's but, I do some. Mostly I find value in project books or method books as Rob describes; I see how others do things and factor it into my own approach. Our own forum provides such an environment. It doesn't matter if I am reading from a seasoned master or a fresh starting newbie. We all have something that we approach from a different angle than someone else. We can each learn from the other and blend those things in to our own methods. I find I often learn just as much from watching how someone approaches something as I do from what they are trying to demonstrate.

I think I have mentioned it before but, my most recent "leap" in learning came from Dave Richards recent SketchUp DVD. I had been doing most of the things he demonstrated BUT, the way he did them in the demonstration taught me things that have sped up my ability to get things into a workable form. Rob's experience with this book is very similar. You look beyond the subject matter and dig into the way the person is approaching the task. You now have the benefit of learning something about the task and the benefit of being able to apply this approach to other situations in your work . . . . . wow, what a blabber-mouth; the coffee must've just kicked in. I'm heading back out to the shop :D.

Ooops, like a bad penny, I'm back. I just realized that what I am working on is an example of Rob's "these techniques can be used on just about any other project". I saw or read about a guy using the spoil from one cut to create an opposing angle for clamping during the following operations. I forget even what the original subject matter was but, I have seen and used this method for bandsaw compound angle cuts, scrollwork and today on the tablesaw. An example of seeing one thing and applying it to another ;):

Taper on sled (1).jpg . Taper on sled (2).jpg . Taper on sled (4).jpg
 
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