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After reading this, I realized this book is just about carving wood. The initial publication was in 1983, before digital photography. This not about canvas, or glass. It would hace been nice, in the chapter on birds, to show how color is applied, and what finishes to use. The biggest negative to this book is the lack of color illustrations.
The authors use a conversational style, which I liked. This disappointed me. Wood is wood. The publisher is Dover, and they have a reputation for good books at a low price. You can stain it, paint it, using oils or anything else that sticks to wood.
There is a nice selection of bird patterns, but not much pictoral instructions on how to carve them. It does go over the basic cuts and offers text on a variety of topics in wood carving, i.e. If you need an overview of woodcarving and were not very picky about the need for step by step assistance, this book would work for you. types of woodcarving, tools, materials, painting, etc. You would probably be better off with a different beginner's book with more appealing projects and then find books on specific woodcarving interests from there. It provides a number of patterns, many of them fairly cheesy and probably would not appeal to most starting out.
This is just a matter of taste but the cutesy mouse and the fisherman weren't what I wanted to carve and I feel that you really need to find carvings that interest you (especially while you are learning) to prevent boredom. Like many beginning woodcarving books this book describes the basic cuts you need to practice and it gives some information on wood types. Beyond that, the only reason to purchase this book is if you need the patterns in them.Being new to wood carving I like the price of the book and I thought I would give it a try. Once again, if the patterns on the cover look interesting to you, then by all means get this book (if you are a complete beginner). Once I saw the patterns though, I changed my mind and bought another book.
Who would want them around the house. I would guess that there is an audience out there that want to carve cutsey figurines but, ugh. That said I have to take responsibility for my bad judgement in selecting this book as the author/publisher provided ample glimpses to the interior pages. Not at least without chewing up a lot of valuable wood as the masters do doubt have. After reviewing the book, I returned it. I have several carving books from which I have gleaned useful information but, frankly, this is subject matter deserving of a video demonstration. So, my bad. Until you see how a carver twists, turns, and taps the chisel to accommodate the grain of the wood, I just don't think you are going to get it.
A terrific beginner book with lots of variety in types of carving. I've added it to my collection of references.
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