Working with N.Z. timbers

Press, 8 February 1986, Page 20

Working with N.Z. timbers

Woodworking with New Zealand Timbers. By Mike McDermott, Reed Methuen, 1985, 135 pp. Illustrations. Index. $24.95. Amateur woodworkers have no shortage of “how to do it” books, ranging from descriptions of elementary tools, timber, and techniques, to highly technical treatise on such esoteric subjects as reproducing Hepplewhite furniture — but nearly all of them are written with some other country’s timber and conditions in mind. “Woodworking with New Zealand Timbers” fills the gap. Mike McDermott’s love of native New Zealand timbers inspired him to write this very practical, well-illustrated book for the enthusiastic amateur who wants to make good quality furniture without recourse to the substitute materials and fastening methods found in most factory furniture. He has designed and built projects specially

for the book to illustrate common woodworking techniques, and these are -shown to good effect in an excellent colour section (marred only by an unfortunate transposition of captions on the pictures of samples of rata and kahikatea). He gives good, practical advice on the seasoning and storing of timber, properties of native timber species, selection and use of tools, and the making of joints. Other aspects of woodworking are tackled, too — simple woodturning, an introduction to wood-carving, and the special techniques of pictureframing. The practical furniture projects are simple, but well-designed, so. that the reader who masters the techniques described, and manages to make the pieces as competently as the author, would achieve furniture that looks as if it was designed and made by a professional.—G. J. Arthur.