Making Furniture Masterpieces: 30 Projects with Measured Drawings

by Franklin H. Gottshall

This clearly written how-to book by master craftsman Franklin H. Gottshall allows woodworkers to construct handsome, useful furniture in the most highly regarded antique styles. Characterized by beauty and richness of design, each of 30 different projects — all replicas of actual rare furniture — can be completed by ambitious beginners as well as skilled crafters for only a fraction of what vintage originals would cost.
Woodcrafters can choose from pieces spanning a wide variety of styles — from a simple dovetailed box to an elegant Philadelphia Chippendale highboy. Included as well are directions for constructing a Dutch cupboard, refectory table, gateleg table, shelf top corner cupboard, Queen Anne hall table, Pennsylvania Dutch painted chest, and other distinctive pieces.
Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions are accompanied by photographs and drawings as well as front and end views and detailed sketches of parts and procedures. Decorative skills such as woodcarving, upholstering, finishing, and wrought-iron work are also fully described and related for each piece.

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 11, 1997

Reviews

[Craig Bixler]

This is an incredible masterpiece of Fine Art that is just a joy to page through! Franklin H. Gottshall was an incredible woodworker and carver of period pieces. The best feature of this book is Franklin had access to the finest pieces of furniture and measured and examined each piece and the manually drew incredible isometric drawings of the entire and included all of the detailed dimensions.

I somehow got a hold of him on the phone when he was in his 80's as I was such a fan. He was so polite and nice. He explained he learned his carving skills as a very young boy at a coffin factory and was laughing about it. It was a huge challenge to be carving this magnificently large pieces.

I am pretty experienced at woodworking and I have to model on the computer a full 3-D representation of his measured drawing and am just amazed the detail he captures.