The Why & How of Woodworking: A Simple Approach to Making Meaningful Work

I've purchased and read many books on woodworking and found all to be wanting in one area or another. Michael Pekovich is obviously a skilled craftsman, but he's so much more, he's a talented designer, engineer and a inspiring teacher. I picked this book up at the library on a whim, and read it cover to cover studying the project designs along the way to understand the construction and design intent. I decided I needed to own this book so ordered it immediately once I had finished reading it. Mike's writing style is motivational without being condescending, the humility in his prose inspires confidence to get you started on your first or next project. I am particularly drawn to Arts and Crafts inspired design and so Mike's beautiful work and designs were matched to my own aesthetic, with lots of the design details explained providing inspiration on how to incorporate them into your own work, from a simple dovetail box to other more advanced furniture pieces. Mike's work is routed in the Arts and Crafts movement, but updated with inspiration from modern masters like James Krenov with some kumiko elements thrown in for additional visual interest. All these styles are combined to provide an extremely pleasing and unique style of his own. This for me was the best woodworking book I've come across providing a path for the beginner and experienced woodworker to develop skills and designs to hopefully produce some beautifully inspired pieces.

if you are going to buy only one woodworking book, let it be this one. It is brilliant. well written, fantastic pictures/illustrations, abundance of great insight into all fundamental aspects of woodworking. One of the few - may \be the only one, who has some appeal to non-woodworkers as well. If you don't want it for yourself, buy it as a gift to a person you want to inspire to go out there an build something.

My favorite book on woodworking. I've come to trust certain voices in the woodworking world, and M. Pekovich is one of them. The book is really informative and inspirational. Top notch photos, layout and text. I think the reviews that complain about too much kumiko are missing the point. He's describing an approach, and some techniques. The plans and projects in the book are best used as starting points. To view the plans as akin to a paint-by-numbers painting is to take the meaning out of the meaningful work. If you don't like kumiko, or proud dovetails, or whatever, just take them out and replace them with something that pleases you. Like a LN #4, this book is a real pleasure.

Got this for a gift and I'm very pleased with the quality of the publication.

Engaging, thoughtful examination on the process of designing and making things, interesting even for a non-woodworker. Not a "page-turner" that you can't put down, but very nice reading.

I got into woodworking about 6-7 years ago and have accumulated quite a collection of instructional books. This is one of the best I've ever seen in terms of comprehensiveness, clarity, presentation and, well, beauty. It covers all aspects of the craft, from philosophy (the "why" of the title), to shop tips, wood selection, design considerations, to methods of work as well as finishing. You will likely learn something on every page. The book also includes a number of very cool projects that anyone familiar with either Mike's Instagram feed or Fine Woodworking Magazine will recognize. The book provides, for the first time I believe, detailed instructions on how to build several of these projects. I've been fortunate enough to attend several classes taught by Mike. As good a woodworker as he is, he's an even better teacher as well as an extremely nice guy. You should really buy this book.

I am new to wooodworking. I also had no real desire to do fine woodworking either. This was the first woodworking book I have bought, and I got it because I follow the author on instagram and I like the work he does. All that said I learned a lot. This probably shouldn't have been my first purchase, but I had to start somewhere. This was a great look at fine woodworking, and how to do details in your woodwork. Stuff that I see in furniture, and I think how do they do that. This book has given men insights in how. I also had no desire, before, to use hand tools, but after seeing the work done in this book I am willing to give it a bit of a shot to see how much I like it. I also kind of want to try my hand at some finer pieces than I originally thought I might do when I started woodworking.

Initially I wondered how this could be good. Not exactly a how-to for beginning woodworkers. I feared perhaps just a coffee table book, with the main feature being the excellent photography I've come to expect from Fine Woodworking (author is Art Director for that magazine). And on that basis, I bought it anyway. Well, it has the photography and layout, all right. It's a gorgeous book. But the prose is excellent, too. It's a bit of a woodworking diary; an exposition of one man's process and shop habits. The author successfully conveys his deep love of the craft, of wood, of quality tools. Like the craft itself, the writing is thoughtful, deliberate. I find myself reading cover to cover, and each time I pick it up, I feel the same contentment wash over me, as when I head for the shop, and don the apron. I was quite affected by the author's personal epiphany, and admonition, to work steadily, treating *every* task as equally important, from sweeping the floor, to scribing pins from tails. (Yeah, he's a tails-first guy). I already felt this way about my work, but I hadn't fully realized it. I saw it more as a coping thing, steady-on and all that. But now, I've begun to see this behavior as an act of grace. Every time I pick up a Lie-Nielsen plane, I smile. Well, now, I'm starting to feel the same about every activity in the shop.