Manual of Traditional Wood Carving

If a person could only have one book on woodcarving, this would be THE book. It was written back in 1911, so some of the material is out of date. For example, the section on how to sharpen tools is dated. Some of the "tone" of this large (568 page)book is in the style of stuff written at that time. It can be a bit preachy and it can get a bit philosophical at times. For example it talks about how learning to carve wood makes... Read Full Review

This is one of those rare books written a long time ago (early 1900s) when craftsmen and artists actually made their livings working with their hands (after serving apprenticships under masters). Their art went on to be perfected during a time when such hand-craftsmanship was valued and rewarded albeit simply and honestly. The treasure trove of techniques and historical information in this book is the kind that I typically... Read Full Review

GOOD BOOK AND VERY USEFUL NICE PATTERN,DESIGN,INSTRUCTION STEP BY STEP. THE GREAT BOOK IN YOUR COLLECTION.

This book is more than I expected for. I used to do some woodcarving for more than 4 years then I was teenager and had pretty good teacher explaining woodcarving itself. but this book gave much better understanding about wood, tools and techniques. I've got so many answers into questions which couldn't find by myself.

This is a very worthwhile addition to a woodcarvers' library. I have not read or worked through the entire book yet (it is truly enormous, and I already have most of the skills so it is re-capping them for me) but it is worth 5 stars for the pictures alone - many, many examples of carved furniture through history. Books with that many photos of historical pieces are hard to come by and usually very, very expensive. So for... Read Full Review