5 comments about Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets: Design and Build the Ultimate Car.

1. I feel just more than a little guilty after reading this book - like I took a family heirloom of secrets and read through them. Some of these secrets were way over the top, some of them are great tips - its a treasure trove of pinewood derby knowledge. Any one running a race needs to have this book to know what can be done to look out for some of the "extreme" tips that most troops should ban, and most dads need to have this book so their kid can be competitive. No one wants their kid to be that kid.



2. David Meade's book is fantastic. I had no idea you could do so many things to a pinewood derby car. The instructions are easy to follow, with lots of photos. I am not someone who is comfortable building things, but this book makes me feel like I can help my son build a competitive car. Mr. Meade explains the physics involved with the techniques, making this project a very good teaching opportunity. Using this book was time well spent.



3. I purchased this book due to a very poor showing last year (one of the first out) After reading the book and selecting what I thought to be the most critical components of a fast car, my son and I took third place in our pack and are headed off to district. The smile on his face was priceless and of course Amazon sells it cheaper than the scout store. Just make sure you know the rules so you do not get DQ'd.



4. Pinewood Derby has been an American tradition for Cub Scouts since it was originated in 1953, a fun event for Scouts and their fathers. There are many books out there that tell you how to make Pinewood Derby cars, giving you helpful hints and serious suggestions on how to increase the speed of your car. Well, of all of the books that I have seen, I must say that I do think that this is the best of them all!
   
   This excellent book covers all of the suggestions that I have seen in all of those other books, ALL of them. But, what really sets this book apart is that it is filled with many colorful pictures that show you exactly how to do each step in making the best Pinewood Derby car that you can. Yeah, this is a great book.
   
   So, if you have an up-coming Pinewood Derby coming up, do yourself a favor, and buy this book. I give it my absolutely highest recommendations!



5. With my childhood derby losses and humiliation well done and gone and my 8 year old ready to take on the big world, I needed help in a big way. This book was just what the doctor ordered. My son learned all the tricks of the trade on how to make a winning car. If you are looking to be a winner, then this is the guide to success in the pinewood derby world. Easy to follow illustrations and instructions make this a great book to have.

1 comments about Marvelous Transforming Toys: With complete instructions and plans.

1. The author has come up with a great set of toy sets: boats, trucks, planes, and houses. Each set has interchangable parts which kids can put together to create their own masterpieces.

   Author assumes ownership of basic tools, drillpress, table saw, bandsaw, and in some cases a lathe comes in handy. I have all but the lathe and am having a lot of fun (and challenges) working my way through the sets. Note that not all of the above tools are required, but since he helps you create jigs to recreate your work, the advantage is to people who have them.

   Some complex angles, tapers and cuts, but with patience all can be made either by hand or with standard hand tools (tough), or with stationary tools. Probably the drill press (or a good way to bore exact repeatable holes) is the most critical in getting great results.

5 comments about Great All-American Wooden Toybook (Reader's Digest Woodworking).

1. Since I purchased this book I have madea Model T Ford and am now making a Stearman biplane.
   The instructions are generally clear with good illustrations. Most of the projects are not for beginners and most require a table or radial arm saw, a band saw and a power drum/belt sander. The author's suggestion to use knotty pine is economical but most of this wood in my local home improvement stores is warped, bowed and generally a pain to work with. Spend a little more and use clear pine or better yet, poplar which in my area is available in many different sizes and thicknesses. Also, the author may love resawing wood to get the sizes that he recommends but it would be a lot easier to scale the projects so that they require standard thicknesses.



2. This book is great for making fun, easy projects that make great gifts. I have made a total of four trucks from this book. This book is a great way to introduce woodworking to kids. I would reccomend this book to anyone.



3. I echo what the other reviewers have already said. Excellent intro to wood toy making provided you have or can get access to tools. Good step by step instructions. This book is a good way to develop your woodworking skills without being overwhelmed.



4. I've been using this book to make toys for children for 15 years and find the drawings and instructions clear and easy to follow. I like how all the projects are designed around stock lumber. One reviewer mentioned that the drawings are on grids for easy scaling. I should note that only items that are odd shaped and can't be drawn full scale in the book are on grids, but that is all that is needed. The only toy that I would have liked to have been included is a dump truck, but I designed my own once I got the hang of how his trucks are designed.



5. As a semi-pro woodworker with a shop full of tools I found his step-by-step directions clear and his plans complete. Whether you have a Shopsmith or a Unisaw, you'll find something in this book for your kids or grandkids. I personally recommend the Pull-Along Train for the novice, and the biplane or P-40 for more experienced and better equiped weoodworkers. My only suggestion is this: Get better wheels. If you can't figure out how to mmake them, buy them.

1 comments about Scroll Saw Pattern Book.

1. I bought this book to develope the projects it includes.Besides it was important to me because i improve myu scroll saw abilities

1 comments about Making Wood Trucks & Construction Vehicles.

1. This text is a clasic study of well-drawn plans. Originally publiished in 1987, this edition does little to correct the criticism that the text is heavy with detailed measured drawings and photos, but light on steo-by-step building instructions.
   I would like to see a chapter on wheel and tire making and a chapter on painting. (There is a good reason why Mr. Martin coats his toys in non-toxic clear finish while I prefer the more traditional Catipillar yellow with decals).
   The paucity of details rule out the beginner, but the plethora of drawings and plans mandate its place on the bookshelf of every aspiring Gepetto.

5 comments about Making Marble-Action Games, Gadgets, Mazes & Contraptions: Designs for 10 Outlandish, Ingenious and Intricate Woodworking Projects.

1. I am used to making projects for which dimensions for the various pieces are provided. Not only does the author fail to provide dimensions but he also fails to even talk about some of the pieces that are part of a given project.



2. This book was a terrible disappointment. I wanted to give it no stars but that didn't seem to be an option. For most of these gadgets he begins the chapter by explaining that they don't actually work very well, they tend to jam and clog up requiring a certain amount of tilting and tapping to clear the device. Many of the mazes and such are non-functional - they are there to make the contraption look complicated. It's clear to me from looking at it that the dice substitute will never generate a 1, 2, or 6, and the thing is definitely not uniform like dice would be. The spirit of Rube Goldberg is represented by contraptions that do a lot but accomplish very little. The mechanisms in this book just don't do anything. I didn't find a single satisfying project in here and felt like it was a waste of twenty bucks. And what are metric conversion tables doing in here? An embarrassment if you ask me. If you like this kind of stuff get Making Wooden Mechanical Models by Alan and Gill Bridgewater. It is far superior.



3. I was disappointed as well. I expected projects I could build, but nothing struck me as worth the time. The basic ideas are OK, marble rollers, and so on. But I would only use this stuff as a departure point for my own designs.



4. This book contains 10 ideas for games which seem to be what every child would enjoy. The problem is that most of the figures used in the book to give construction details leave a lot to be desired. Most of the photos are black and white and difficult to see any detail. The drawings are also in black and white and are also very difficault to follow.



5. In today's world not many woodworkers make things by hand. The book is hard to work with, difficult to find basic stock requirements and measurements. I would not buy again.

3 comments about Easy-to-Make Whirligigs (Woodworking Whirligigs).

1. Anders S. Lunde is the man who resurrected the whirligig from the ashheap of historical American culture. In the 1970's, Lunde first investigated old whirligigs in New England, researched in the Library of Congress, and just plain hit the woodworking bench to figure out what makes a good whirligig work. Others have tried to copy him, but his whirligigs spin and turn and twist with a freedom and naturalness few can match. His political whirligig creations are snapped up immediately these days, because at 86 years old, there is no telling when he will stop. Simple, straightforward, and detailed, these designs and instructions will put you in the drivers seat for making any design you desire. It is the creative side of these wind machines that intrigues Lunde a lot. His other books continue his approach and offer many other interesting designs. Buy them all!



2. This was bought as a birthday gift for my son-in-law who wants to build whirligigs. He seems quite pleased with the instruction book.



3. I ordered this book due to the excellent reviews it had, but i was very disappointed. The book is very outdated and for a newbie, I thought the instructions weren't very clear.

No comments about Tops: Making the Universal Toy.

5 comments about Making Animated Whirligigs (Woodworking Whirligigs).

1. This is the best of Lunde's series. He is the man who resurrected the whirligig from the ashheap of historical American culture. In the 1970's, Lunde first investigated old whirligigs in New England, researched in the Library of Congress, and just plain hit the woodworking bench to figure out what makes a good whirligig work. Others have tried to copy him, but his whirligigs spin and turn and twist with a freedom and naturalness few can match. His political whirligig creations are snapped up immediately these days, because at 86 years old, there is no telling when he will stop. Simple, straightforward, and detailed, these designs and instructions will put you in the drivers seat for making any design you desire. He is a specialist in devising creative designs, not of the art crowd kind that look great but don't work, but the kind that really move in ways pleasing to all. He is the master of this genre.



2. its a good book on the subject will help start my ideas on the subject



3. I haven't actually made a whirligig yet, but I plan on it. Since I read this book I really believe I can. What I wanted to know, it told me, mainly things you can use to make the mechanical components of a whirligig. I've done woodworking and that part I knew I could do but putting it all together was another matter. This book definitely helped me see how it can be done.



4. I have seen whirlygigs in movies, and occasionally the simple birds with spinning wings. I wanted to know what sort of materials were needed to make the more involved mechanical devices - such as the man sawing wood. This book did not disappoint. The author provides information on materials to use for reliable service in a device exposed to the elements. This is an excellent place to start.



5. I've had this book for several months now, and I have had a chance to look it over carefully.
   I'm a teacher by training, and I have to say that Mr Lunde could use a lesson or two about organization, the use of an outline, as well as good pictures.
   This book is very poorly organized - the author skips around as if he never had an outline or plan.
   The result is half-written instructions that rarely contain all the necessary info you'll need to create one of his projects.
   Mr. Lunde tends to waste your time with personal stories that aren't relevant to YOUR project at hand.
   His instructions are often confusing and contradictory - he refers to different projects often while confusing you as to the project at hand.
   His pictures are very poor as well - the hand drawn pictures often have absolutely no information about them - the actual photographs very rarely show you all of the piece - instead showing sections of the project you may or may not need to actually see.
   Photographs are expensive to add to books and it is clear that Lunde and his publisher cheaped out -
   and left you - the buyer - hanging in mid air with next to no visual reference.
   I'm sure Mr. Lunde is a great fellow -
   but this is what happens when you let a craftsman - who may or may not be able to write clearly -
   write a book.
   Wouldn't recommend this book if you need adequate info on making any kind of whirligig.

1 comments about Making Wooden Toys: 12 Easy-to-Do Projects with Full-Size Templates.

1. I do not recommened this book for several reasons the first and foremost being that the designs in my opinion are not safe for children.

   While the book recommends the use of non-toxic paint so that the toys are safe for a small child to use, the designs call for nail heads and thin dowels to protrude from the toys and the joinery called for in the designs is so poor that small pieces could easily break off and choke a child.

   The designs are crude and uninspired. A child with a crayon could do as well. The beginner woodworker will find only a half page of written instructions in the entire book. Among other things, these instructions make the absurb suggestion of using a hole saw with a hand (non-electric) drill.

   The intermediate or advanced wookworker will be appalled at the shoddy quality of the finished toys in the photographs. Wheels are not round, joints to not fit properly, cuts have ragged edges that have not been sanded, a child with no experience could make a better toy from wood. This book should not have been published. I gave it one star because I could not give it zero.

   Not recomended, save your money.