How to get started picking a style

[agaboric]

Where does the Ohio valley chapter meet? I am up in Central Ohio, basicly Columbus, and a little north of that, but that is the largest city close to me. Ty I love your comment "I want that; here is my deposit." I believe that the SAPFM is out of Galena Ohio which is about 10 minutes from where I live, what brought me to this forum was I was in the Sunberry Libaray and saw an annual publication of the SAPFM and thought wow this is really cool! I was looking for woodworking magizines and carving books. I am so glad I found it and read it. I should ask Santa for a subscription to SAPFM.

[mbholden]

go down to the chapters listed here on this website and check the Ohio River Valley for meeting notices.
Most of the Ohio meetings are in and around Columbus.

[dkeller_nc]

You don't say in your original post whether you're looking for books that are "art appreciation" types or "how do I do this" types.  The museum books are great resources - I have several thousand dollars worth of them (yes, they can be quite expensive if you want to build a comprehensive library).

But these books are pretty much useless if you're new to period construction details (i.e., the "how do I do this" question).  Nutting's books in particular typically show just one photograph of a piece (from the front).  That's great if you're trying to figure out what you like in a desk-on-frame or a Windsor chair, not so great when you've made your selection and are going to sit down to figure out a measured drawing or how much wood you're going to need to reproduce a piece.

This is why I suggested the Jeffrey Greene book (American Furniture of the 18th Century) - it has not only a survey of the basic styles (with examples), but also construction and period techniques information.

But here's another one that I'd bet most SAPFM members have in their library, and it's a good deal cheaper than the Greene book because Lee Valley reprinted it, though it focuses on one style (Norm Vandal's Queen Anne Furniture):

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=54157&cat=1,46096,46105&ap=2

Finally, the Chipstone Foundation's collection of furniture is beautifully photographed and represented in the Wisconsin University's Digital Library for the Decorative Arts:

http://decorativearts.library.wisc.edu/

(Select the "Chipstone and Longridge Collections")

This database is free, and provides a lot of pictures of the interior details of pieces.  Also free is the digital format for an important publication of the Chipstone Foundation - "American Furniture" (At least the ones published before 2006 - the 2006 and later editions are available for purchase from Amazon and other booksellers).  These books are intended as scholarly resources, so they aren't writtien in the accessible style that the Vandall and Greene books are, but they are treasure troves of photographs and descriptions of iconic American Colonial Furniture:

http://www.chipstone.org/framesetAFintro.html

This should keep you busy for a few days. ;-)

[jacon4]

You don't say in your original post whether you're looking for books that are "art appreciation" types or "how do I do this" types.


Excellent point! As a collector i tend to get books that are mostly about the form/design of old furniture where most of the folks on this forum are interested in how to build it, two totally different things.