Woodshop Jigs & Fixtures

The photos in this book are all Black-and white. While not as flashy as some modern tomes on the subject, black-and-white photos reduce publishing cost and are perfectly suited to showing how these jigs work. Also, there are many black-and-white line-drawings, (Hand-drawn illustrations). Illustrations are often much better than photographs, because they can show the inside of a part as if it were invisible. You can "see-through" an object to understand its function. These high-quality illustrations are made by professional illustrators who obviously understand the operation of the mechanisms. Taunton should be lauded for maintaining their high standards and using these talented illustrators. Also, the print is not too small for old eyes... that's smart and "user-friendly." As always, the Taunton editing style is present: concise, casual, efficient use of good modern English makes the reading easy and understanding clear. From my personal viewpoint, the "resources" index (starting on page # 224) is worth the price of the book. I already know about most of the jig & fixtures in the book and have used something like every one of them at one time or another. But when designing your own jigs, replacing old ones or building those in this book, the BIGGEST hassle is FINDING THE MATERIALS. Where do you buy UMHW plastic in strips? Where can I find that nifty semi-circular fence-stop and what the heck is it called? (it's called a "curved lid support.") Many times, just knowing the NAME of a product will help us find that thing, especially in today's internet-driven world. The "product-specific" resource pages, ( 224 to 227) are the biggest time saver. Alloyed to that "product specific" concept are the clear "call-outs" on each illustration. Each illustration "calls-out" the proper name of the components, then you can find that thing by its name in the resource-guide. Anyone who has ever seen an architectural drawing, engineering blueprint or just good project-plans will immediately recognize the proper draftsman-style labeling. They show the correct name for each critical part, particularly if that part is arcane or hard-to-find. Great! The organization of the book is useful too... Sections and chapters are categorized by FUNCTION and RELATED FUNCTIONS; i.e. "Fences that guide" or "Stops to limit travel". There is a separate section for "materials" (the stuff you make jigs with) and "hardware" (the stuff that holds other stuff together and makes it work.) That's smart. It takes an otherwise dreary process and makes it easy-to-find what I need FAST! This is the second book I have purchased from "booklady" and I have to say the service is good. The package arrived ahead of schedule, which means it was in stock and shipped immediately. I got e-mail confirmation of the shipment. The book was as described and packaged well enough to withstand the abuse it obviously endured from the postal service. Booklady will get more of my business whenever pos