Woodshop Library

FIREPLACE & MANTEL IDEAS, by John Lewman, discusses more than 100 classic fireplace mantle designs in traditional, country French, Victorian, contemporary, neoclassical and other styles. It offers 16 complete projects to helps readers choose and install the mantles of their dreams. Each includes dimensioned original drawings, full-color photographs, and detailed close-up photographs. The book also offers installation details for the EPA-approved and energy-efficient Rumford fireplace. An appendix includes a complete list of manufacturers and suppliers. Of interest is the idea gallery, which suggests mantels are an integral part of a home's ambiance and displays an assortment of existing photos that cover a wide range of tastes and styles. Lewman has more than 35 years' experience designing and detailing products for the home and home craftsmen. His specialty is creating how-to guides that can be easily followed and mapped by both beginners and professionals. The 90-page softcover sells for $19.95. Contact: Fox Chapel Publishing Co. Inc., 1970 Broad St., East Petersburg, PA 17520. Tel: 800-457-9112. www.foxchapelpublishing.com

GREENE & GREENE: DESIGN ELEMENTS FOR THE WORKSHOP, by Darrell Peart, offers dozens of tips on mastering the distinctive details often done by furniture makers Charles and Henry Greene. Ideas cover the creation of ebony plugs, cloudlifts, leg indents, brackets and pulls. There are more than 200 photographs and drawings, and of special interest are X-ray photos of joints from certain original pieces, including the crest rail and back leg joint of the Blacker house living room armchair. An X-ray of the chair's double-loop brackets reveals that screws were used for attachment before plugs covered them. The author advises readers to resist the temptation of giving each plug one last tap with a plastic-headed mallet. He states that the goal is to err on leaving the plug high because if the shoulder of the plug passes beyond the perimeter of the hole, definition of the piece is lost. Peart is a custom furniture maker who became particularly intrigued by the works of the Greene brothers after discovering the Arts and Crafts Movement in 1989. The 128-page softcover sells for $24.95. Contact: Linden Publishing Inc., 2006 S. Mary, Fresno, CA 93721. Tel: 800-345-4447. www.lindenpub.com

THE COMPLETE KITCHEN CABINETMAKER, by Robert Lang, features descriptions on professional methods to designing built-in cabinets for kitchens, family rooms and home offices. It contains hundreds of photographs and detailed shop drawings, and gives readers the choice of building either face-frame or frameless cabinets. The technical guide is the foundation for an endless number of projects where ultimate dimensions depend on the reader. Lang includes tips on how to design cabinetry that considers function, needs, tastes, aesthetics, budget and materials. Of particular interest is the section on how to develop working shop drawings and cutting lists for each cabinet in the installation. Another section offers advice on working efficiently with solid wood, veneered plywood, MDF and plastic laminate. Lang is a professional cabinetmaker and draftsman. He is also the author of "Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture," "Shop Drawings for Craftsman Interiors," and "Shop Drawings for Craftsman Inlays and Hardware." The 221-page softcover sells for $22.95. Contact: Cambium Press, P.O. Box 909, Bethel, CT 06801. Tel: 203-778-2782. www.cambiumpress.com

AUTOCAD POCKET REFERENCE, by Cheryl R. Shrock, is a compact guide that includes all fundamental AutoCAD commands and concepts. It is not designed to take the place of detailed textbooks, but supplement them as a quick reference. It covers action commands, dimensioning, drawing entities, input options, plotting, settings, icon displays and more. The drawing entities section clarifies how to use the ARC command to create a segment of a circle less than 360 degrees. The author mentions there are 10 ways to draw an Arc in AutoCAD and examples are given for each. Though most Arcs are drawn counter-clockwise, some of the examples are drawn clockwise to demonstrate the use of a negative input. Shrock originally wrote the book for herself to keep in her briefcase. She is a professor and chairperson of Computer Aided Design at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif. The 304-page softcover sells for $19.95. Contact: Industrial Press Inc., 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016-4078. Tel: 212-889-6330. www.industrialpress.com