Building Classic Arts & Crafts Furniture: Shop Drawings for 33 Traditional Charles Limbert Projects Paperback – September 19, 2013

This book gives a short overview of the Arts and Crafts movement, and the life of Charles Limbert. It then devotes several pages to various tips and techniques for creating Arts and Crafts furniture. The how-to portion is perfect for someone familiar with woodwork, but unfamiliar with the Arts and Crafts style. It would not be enough for a raw beginner. After this short introductory portion comes the heart of the book, thirty three excellent sets of technical drawings for unusually handsome Arts and Crafts furniture.The bad:This book could have used a second round of editing. The graceful #357 bookcase is described as being 3" wide on its heading page, and in the resources section, they managed to misspell Chris Schwarz's name. So I would vigorously recommend that anyone building something from this book, review the measurements with great care.I greatly hope that they can fix such errors in the next print run. This book has the potential to become a well-loved classic.The so-so:Although the drawings are lovely, I do love to see actual photographs of the built projects, and the closest this book offers are several photos of originals which are only enough to whet the appetite.If a second edition happens, perhaps reader-submitted photos could be used and published.The good: (and oh, there is a lot of good)Usually Arts and Crafts furniture come in two styles, boxy, and boxier. While still boxy, the Charles Limbert designs in this book have enough curves and lightness thrown in to make them graceful, while still being handsome and stately. They range (in my opinion) from okay, to breathtaking. Which is an improvement over just boxy.The designs range from being approachable for a seasoned beginner, to a satisfying challenge for an intermediate woodworker. Nothing is overly-simple or overtly terrifying. Grain direction is not described, and some joinery is only hinted at, so familiarity with wood movement and assembly techniques is recommended.A minor but refreshing detail, is that in many cut lists, 3/4" is the primary thickness. Half-inches, full-inches and some other thicknesses make appearances, but there aren't cutesy artsy little fractions right and left. This has the delightful effect of allowing off-the-shelf dimensioned wood to be used, placing many of these designs in reach of smaller shops that don't have resawing or planing capacity.And although this is heretical, because of the frequent wide panels, and handsome shapes, some of these designs may lend themselves very nicely to reinterpretation with plywood, biscuits, pine, and paint.But all in all, the technical drawings are just lovely, and the remarkable #355 bookcase has earned itself a place on my very long to-do list.

Lambert's designs are more delicate that Stickley's, and I prefer them. This book is well put together, and I found it very helpful as I designed a comtemporary Craftsman-style hall table for a client who wanted a lighter and airier look than more traditional Stickley designs.

If you're interested in building furniture in this style, it's a useful volume. The measured drawings are good, but it would have been helpful to include angles on some projects. Images of the finished item are flat drawings (they appear to be from Sketchup); photographs with highlights and shadow would have been more helpful. Measurements in the drawings seem generally accurate; there are a lot of typos in text related to measurements, but the mistakes are fairly obvious so it's just kind of annoying.

I love the style of this furniture but most of all I love the simple and clear instructions that make it easy to put together a beautiful final product.

This book is just OK. The pictures of the finished pieces are dark, and it’s impossible to discern details. Mistakes are present with impossible measurements and drawings. Personally, I think there are more attractive Limbert pieces. I bought the book to build the hallway chair, and I will be able to do that, so still a worthwhile purchase.

Quick arrival and good quality book. Just what we wanted

great drawings and selection of furniture.

I love the almost exotic appeal of this type of furniture. Simple but modern.

smooth cover

Bonito libro con planos y medidas segun lo descrito. Hechsria en falta unas fotos en color de los muebles. Muchas gracias.

Excellent read. Informative and well laid out.

This book provides a brief introduction to Arts & Craft furniture, assumes you know sufficient joinery to sort things out and gives you some nice, clearly laid out, plans for reproducing the originals - good value for money.