Here's an opportunity to create something truly unique by using woodworking techniques that are as "green" as it gets.

By collecting branches and logs, recycled lumber, or scavenged wood from old buildings, you can build rustic furniture with a distinctive look -- and a primitive, earthy charm.

But before you get started, you'll need the guidance of a seasoned furniture maker. And it's all here for you in Rustic Furniture Basics -- from professional woodworker, teacher and author Doug Stowe.

An ideal guide for beginners, this valuable reference includes 10 diverse projects designed to teach you all the basic techniques you'll need to make a wide range of rustic furniture.

Here are a few of the projects you'll find.

• Rustic white oak chest
• Western cedar tables
• Rustic chair
• Slab-top coffee table

By following step-by-step instructions with detailed graphics, you'll learn every procedure -- traditional joinery, cutting round mortises and tenons, weaving twigs, making a webbed seat, and much more.

In searching for the natural materials to complete each project, you'll discover a process that challenges your imagination in a new and satisfying way -- as you tap into your own powers of ingenuity.

And by using basic hand tools and low-tech procedures, you'll revisit some of the simple pleasures that earlier generations of craftsmen enjoyed.

If you've got a cabin in the woods or a country hideaway in need of just the right pieces to suit its rustic character, here's the book you need to make it happen.

Doug Stowe, a professional woodworker for over three decades, is known for his decorative boxes, incorporating natural materials and North American hardwoods. He is the author of several books, including Beautiful Boxes, Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide to Box Making, and Basic Box Making. He has also appeared in two feature-lengthd DVD videos. Stowe teaches woodworking in his hometown of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, as well as at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. He is a several times winner of the Vaughn Golden Hammer Awards for excellence in home and workshop writing.