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A Cabinetmaker's Notebook
Cabinetmaking at the highest level is an art, a discipline, a philosophy--even a way of life--in addition to being a useful craft. In this book one of the greatest living cabinetmakers reflects on the deeper meanings of his craft and explains for less accomplished workers how the right attitudes toward materials, tools, and time can increase the joys of this complex activity. Craftspeople in every medium will be inspired by this account of getting started and developing habits that lessen the difficulties of a complex craft.
132 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 9, 2010
A thoroughly enjoyable, pleasant, yet thought provoking book that both resonated with me as a woodworker, and simultaneously reminded me how much of an inauthentic, insufficiently devoted, hobby woodworker I am (as so many seem when compared to James Krenov). I learned the most from, and most appreciated, the detail on Krenov's working process: how he looks at and selects wood, how he designs from wood itself and not from drawings, how he has survived in the profession while maintaining standards (like so many craftsmen I know, there is a wife to make a more "reliable" living, which Krenov freely admits), and why craftsmanship is so important in the context of a throwaway, disposable-item culture.
August 27, 2010
My love of woodworking attracted me to James Krenov’s book, but my appreciation for his philosophy and the appeal of his clear simple English draws me back again and again. Perhaps had I read it when I was 22 years old, I would have pursued a different career; perhaps not. It’s hard to tell someone something when they are 22. For years, I made semi-annual trips to a large shopping mall (of all things) in Minneapolis where I maintained some computer control equipment. I found this book in the engineers’ lunchroom and I always read it with my sandwich. Eventually, after several years of these trips, an engineer told me to take the book because no one else read it.
Krenov is a cabinetmaker of international repute, and his work is exhibited in museums in Sweden, Norway, and Japan. He lived in Sweden, instead of the United States in which he was raised because “Expression in wood…is a bit heavy-handed there; oversimplified…Some artists in wood order their material by telephone…This is not a criticism; it is merely stating that there are different relationships with the material.” If you are an aspiring woodworker looking for technical tips on making a sophisticated jewelry box of exotic woods using complex dovetail joints, then keep on looking—this isn’t it. Oh, the museum-quality box is there, right enough, but Krenov is writing about the attitude that makes the creation of these masterpieces possible…and the attitude that makes their purchase and ownership worthwhile. His work tends to emphasize an understated elegance rather than a gaudy display of showy hardwoods. Lemonwood, pearwood, Swedish maple and ash, Oregon pine, doussie, and various walnuts feature in his work.
If you paint with a brush, it is fine art; if you use an air-brush it is a craft. So says the U.S. Treasury, which will tax the two assets in different ways. A woodworker, using band saw, plane, spoke shave, chisel and knife, is a craftsman while Michelangelo, carving marble with chisel and drill, is an artist. An arbitrary line is being drawn here. Krenov is an artist of some sort, and his single-minded focus on his craft in all its aspects is well worth one’s time to contemplate.
He works alone making a few pieces each year. “…I have to discipline myself to do this…work, which involves hard labor and concentration of another sort, often forgotten, because this kind of wood crafting is a combination of many things; discipline, a strong back, intuition, skilled fingers, something in the eye, and something more than professional skill—perhaps someone else can explain it better than I…My way of working is just a long series of personal discoveries. I can’t give anyone secrets…because, finally, it depends upon one’s skill and intuition…”
On fame and fortune: “I’ve never believed that a really good craftsman is intended for a tremendous public. A museum can show a thing or two to countless people, but the craftsman lives in a condition where the size of his public is almost in inverse proportion to the quality of his work.”
On quality: “A fair part of my life as a craftsman has been shadowed with doubts. Doubts as to whether I was meant to do this kind of thing. Still more doubts as to whether I could do it well enough…Finally, there was the worst doubt of all, when at times I would ask myself, ‘Whom are you fooling? What if your work is fair but not really good, not so good that any finely tuned person will simply have to respond?...Alone in the house I would panic, stare at my workbench, then go upstairs, make a cup of coffee, sit sipping it looking out at the birch trees, winter-bare and trembling. In the midst of fear an undercurrent would begin, the feeling that is so difficult to define. Down in my workshop again, the sum total of values once given to me said, ‘This isn’t bad.’”
On age: “Once I used to get wood from far places and take for granted that two, three, or four years would pass before it would be ready to use. Now, four years is a long time…now my excitement is shaded by apprehension, almost regret. A half a year to get here, three years to dry…and time is passing. I am sad, not at the thought of getting old, but because I might miss so much lovely wood…I don’t love working—it is working well that I love. Hence the soberness: I don’t want to go on being a cabinetmaker after I start to make excuses, to say, ‘We-ell, you know, it isn’t bad, but if you had come to me three or four years ago I’d have done a better job. But of course, I am sixty-two, and considering, it’s not bad...’ I won’t allow myself that: I’ll quit when it’s not going just as I know it should.”
Krenov is a cabinetmaker of international repute, and his work is exhibited in museums in Sweden, Norway, and Japan. He lived in Sweden, instead of the United States in which he was raised because “Expression in wood…is a bit heavy-handed there; oversimplified…Some artists in wood order their material by telephone…This is not a criticism; it is merely stating that there are different relationships with the material.” If you are an aspiring woodworker looking for technical tips on making a sophisticated jewelry box of exotic woods using complex dovetail joints, then keep on looking—this isn’t it. Oh, the museum-quality box is there, right enough, but Krenov is writing about the attitude that makes the creation of these masterpieces possible…and the attitude that makes their purchase and ownership worthwhile. His work tends to emphasize an understated elegance rather than a gaudy display of showy hardwoods. Lemonwood, pearwood, Swedish maple and ash, Oregon pine, doussie, and various walnuts feature in his work.
If you paint with a brush, it is fine art; if you use an air-brush it is a craft. So says the U.S. Treasury, which will tax the two assets in different ways. A woodworker, using band saw, plane, spoke shave, chisel and knife, is a craftsman while Michelangelo, carving marble with chisel and drill, is an artist. An arbitrary line is being drawn here. Krenov is an artist of some sort, and his single-minded focus on his craft in all its aspects is well worth one’s time to contemplate.
He works alone making a few pieces each year. “…I have to discipline myself to do this…work, which involves hard labor and concentration of another sort, often forgotten, because this kind of wood crafting is a combination of many things; discipline, a strong back, intuition, skilled fingers, something in the eye, and something more than professional skill—perhaps someone else can explain it better than I…My way of working is just a long series of personal discoveries. I can’t give anyone secrets…because, finally, it depends upon one’s skill and intuition…”
On fame and fortune: “I’ve never believed that a really good craftsman is intended for a tremendous public. A museum can show a thing or two to countless people, but the craftsman lives in a condition where the size of his public is almost in inverse proportion to the quality of his work.”
On quality: “A fair part of my life as a craftsman has been shadowed with doubts. Doubts as to whether I was meant to do this kind of thing. Still more doubts as to whether I could do it well enough…Finally, there was the worst doubt of all, when at times I would ask myself, ‘Whom are you fooling? What if your work is fair but not really good, not so good that any finely tuned person will simply have to respond?...Alone in the house I would panic, stare at my workbench, then go upstairs, make a cup of coffee, sit sipping it looking out at the birch trees, winter-bare and trembling. In the midst of fear an undercurrent would begin, the feeling that is so difficult to define. Down in my workshop again, the sum total of values once given to me said, ‘This isn’t bad.’”
On age: “Once I used to get wood from far places and take for granted that two, three, or four years would pass before it would be ready to use. Now, four years is a long time…now my excitement is shaded by apprehension, almost regret. A half a year to get here, three years to dry…and time is passing. I am sad, not at the thought of getting old, but because I might miss so much lovely wood…I don’t love working—it is working well that I love. Hence the soberness: I don’t want to go on being a cabinetmaker after I start to make excuses, to say, ‘We-ell, you know, it isn’t bad, but if you had come to me three or four years ago I’d have done a better job. But of course, I am sixty-two, and considering, it’s not bad...’ I won’t allow myself that: I’ll quit when it’s not going just as I know it should.”
February 11, 2022
This not a how to book, this book is the story of James Krenov. A glimpse into his life and experiences that shaped him and his woodworking. If you know who James Krenov is, then you the subtlety and simple lines of his work. A simplicity that takes a master craftsman to make. This book begins to share his philosophy that influenced his work, work that is treasured by those who own it and those who have seen it.
August 31, 2020
I’ve been reading a lot about James Krenov for a couple of years and finally got around to picking up some of his books. My god what I’ve been missing. I’ve read 3 of his writings so far and will eventually find the whole set.
September 1, 2019
A book that asks more questions than it answers, for me. But, the work on display in this book is beautiful and inspirational.
December 9, 2017
Inspirational
May 11, 2020
Tough read but informative
November 6, 2020
This is a wonderful book about a wonderful man describing a wonderful craft.
January 9, 2022
Relatos muy interesantes y en primera persona de un maestro de la carpintería.
November 22, 2022
Krenov is absolutely a master, this book is fantastic.
January 21, 2023
One of the most impactful books for me
September 18, 2023
Inspiring and pragmatic
October 23, 2023
I would like to go to the new one. Have a good one. The new one hates this. Have a good one. The new one is in the know.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2023
A must have for every cabinet maker. I read this book years ago and it is as relevant today as it was then.
January 21, 2025
Loved it. Great for woodworkers or anyone who likes to make things.
February 17, 2016
what a gifted artist/woodworker. The different approaches of curved doors and supports, minimal hinges, and the painstaking approach to the beautiful use of wood. A master indeed. Inspiring for the rest of us.
December 27, 2016
One of the classics, more about a approach to woodworking and examples of fine work, and how he changes details of the work based on his feeling at the time, the grain and other characteristics of the wood, etc. Not a detailed here's how to build these ten items.
January 21, 2010
it's a bit preachy and a little angry at the world. krenov believes that we are living temporary lives, and that fine furniture will add a permanence we've been missing.
July 19, 2012
An inspiration. Expanded the possibilities of creating.
November 5, 2012
Changed my life's path
May 7, 2015
Maybe three and a half?
It is all philosophy, not technical discussion. I'm not totally on board with all of it, but neither did it get tiring.
It is all philosophy, not technical discussion. I'm not totally on board with all of it, but neither did it get tiring.
July 25, 2016
The best perspective on woodworking, along with George Nakashima. Much needed in our age.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews