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1: Greene & Greene for the master craftsman
This has to be the most beautiful book in the series of Arts & Crafts style shop drawings from Robert Lang, and I have them all. I have to say, almost every piece in this book is one where you have to decide that you are going to devote between 6 months and a year of your life to making. I have not yet made this committment, but I already see how reading this book has influenced some of the details on my other work. Gorgeous color plates of these masterpieces are included and everything is printed on archival quality glossy paper. Drawings are clear and descriptive text is concise and well written. Overall I recommend this to any student of Greene and Green (and Peter and John Hall, the craftsmen who actually built most of these pieces for them!)
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2: Shop drawings book review
This book is a welcome add to the many showing the arts & crafts furniture designs. The text and drawings are first rate and guide you through the design process. The author certainly has done a complete investigation to put together this fine review of the many arts & crafts furniture era.
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3: What it says it is
"Shop Drawings" is little more than it says it is. It would have been nice if it were more but it doesn't claim to be. If you have a background similar to Mr. Lang's as I do with drafting, then there is all you need to reproduce the Greene and Greene designs, at least from a dimensional stand point. You will however need to figure out the details on your own or reference some of the magazine articles on reproducing the Greene and Greene furnature. As Mr. Lang states in his book, it's not a how to guide. It's still a very good and informative book however and one you will want if you have visions of building some of this unique furnature.
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4: What???
The two previous reviews by "experienced" craftsmen are laughable at the very least.
A book of shop drawings is that. And this one is one of the best. It is not a tome for beginners or for those who do not have the ability to infer and who do not have spatial orientation necessary to derive results from DRAWINGS.
The two previous reviewers must be very unhappy individuals to have to be led by the nose so much.
As to this book. If you truly are a woodworker, this is a fine reference work. Not only that but it also deals somewhat with the philosophy of woodworking. That is always a good touch.
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5: Short on substance and details
Having purchased two other books of this nature by Mr. Lang, I placed myself on the waiting list at Amazon and waited months the get the book in my hands. I did not hesitate to break it out of the packaging and dove right into it. The first forty-five pages were dedicated to the history and other background information necessary to get a good understanding of the Greenes' design concepts and the practical methods used by the Hall brothers to construct the pieces. I was very disappointed with the scant number of details that one might expect from such a technical manual. There are a few photographs that show some of the processes (most of us know how to use a shoulder plane) but what was lacking were drawings to reinforce or to make clear some of the principles Lang was trying to describe. The book read like a series of essays rather than a substantive, technical manual with supporting details.
The actual measured drawings are just that as they lack certain pertinent construction details. I am a fairly skilled woodworker, having started the craft at the age of fourteen and have continued until today, even after a successful career in architecture; and what I have concluded is that this book was hurriedly put together to meet some preset deadline. It is my opinion that if more time and thought was given by the author to the details it would have resulted in a much better book.
So I am sorely disappointed with the contents and the lack of detailing and would not recommend this book to anyone but very experienced woodworkers. Mr. Lang has missed the mark this time and what a pity.
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