Basic Stairbuilding With Scott Schuttner; Sanding And Finishing Hardwood Floors With Don Bollinger; Small Shop Projects: Boxes With Jim Cummins

For the ordinary tinkerer, the prospect of building an L-shaped staircase (let alone an ordinary one) would be daunting to say the least. Yet in Basic Stairbuilding with Scott Schuttner, he makes it look relatively simple. Schuttner demonstrates how to simply calculate the run and rise for any projected staircase, how to cut and hang carriages, and easement procedures for getting a tight fit on your treads and risers for a basic staircase. In the second part of the tape, he uses the same principles to create an L-shaped staircase with a few fancy extras thrown in: newel posts, handrails, and balusters. The step-by-step instruction and excellent close-up camerawork is characteristic of the high quality of Taunton Press's video workshops. In Sanding and Finishing Hardwood Floors, Don Bollinger shows viewers how to do a project many homeowners are likely to attempt (and just as likely to bung up). He gives the proper procedures for prepping the floor, how to use sanders and edgers (and what not to do), how to fix those unsightly drum marks and edger ditches, and what constitutes a good finish (as well as how to apply it.) A top-notch production. Although Jim Cummins is an interesting and skilled craftsman, his program on Small Shop Projects: Boxes is likely to frustrate all but the truly serious home woodworker. Creating a beautiful array of unusual boxes, including one with 31 sides and a Pennyhedron puzzle box, Cummins uses a wide variety of homemade jigs and reconverted tools. Viewers unfamiliar with the professional terminology of woodworkers will be lost within the first five minutes, and they will have the devil of a time trying to figure out how to make their modern power tools duplicate Cummins' sterling examples. The first two titles reviewed are highly recommended; Small Shop Projects: Boxes, on the other hand, would only be suitable for libraries with an unusually high proportion of master craftspeople in their area. (Available from: Taunton Press, 63 S. Main St., Box 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506.)