Woodworking Books

Carving Classical Styles in Wood
by Frederick Wilbur

Join an expert craftsman on a full-color journey to see how classical motifs evolved through the Greek, Roman, Romanesque, Renaissance, and Neoclassical periods; and learn how to add exquisite period details to all your woodworking projects, too. Detailed carving instructions help you incorporate relief panels, bands, foliage, tablets, escutcheons, scrolls, cartouches, fans, sunbursts, shells, keystones, and finials into your own work. A final project chapter offers easy-to-follow examples of these elements brought together in the making of chests, benches, cabinets, and mirror frames. Plenty of photographs, practical guidance, and fascinating historical commentary will inspire woodworkers and interest students of art and those curious about the development of ornamental styles.

Woodcarving Techniques & Projects
for the First-Time Carver
by Everett Ellenwood

This book is the perfect place to start learning an enjoyable hobby that lasts a lifetime. With just a few simple tools and a piece of wood, you'll be on your way to creating wonderful keepsakes and hand-carved gifts. Each project takes only a few hours to complete. Designed to build basic woodcarving skills, each lesson teaches you something new and raises your confidence as you learn to transfer patterns, use carving tools, and finish wood.

Relief Carving Wood Spirits, Revised Edition:
A Step-By-Step Guide for Releasing Faces in Wood
by Lora S. Irish

With this book any carver can stand beside the workbench of acclaimed artist Lora S. Irish and learn everything she has to teach about creating an expressive wood spirit. Lora clearly explains the relief carving process from start to finish: every cut, every tool change, and every depth check. The entire craft is here, from preparing the wood to roughing out and detailing the wood spirit to applying a long-lasting finish. No step is left out and no technique is left unexplained. The author shares her tips for creating realistic and detailed facial features like eyelids, windswept hair, beards, and the ever-important mustache. Best of all, when the step-by-step project is complete, Relief Carving Wood Spirits, Revised Edition offers 20 more original patterns to keep any carver busy for seasons to come.

135 Gunstock Carving Patterns
by Lora S. Irish

Create your own one-of-a-kind functional artwork that will be cherished for years to come with this treasury of 135 classic gunstock carving patterns. You're sure to find the best carving pattern here for your next project, from basic checkering to dramatic hunting-related scenes. Excellent choices are provided for every skill level, from beginner to expert, so you can start with a basic pattern and tackle more intricate designs as your experience in gunstock carving grows.

Carving Realistic Flowers in Wood
by Wanda Marsh

This beginning-to-advanced-level carving book provides three projects designed to teach the carving skills needed to recreate any flower. Starting with a morning glory, this guide offers step-by-step instructions on how to carve and texture the flower and ideas for creating a beautiful finish with paints. Also included are close-up photographs of real flowers showing the variations in bloom, petals, and leaf groupings, as is a detailed examination of the power tools a woodcarver needs to create realistic carvings, including the bits and burs, flexible shaft machines, handpieces, and dust collectors.

Extreme Pumpkin Carving
Second Edition Revised and Expanded
by Vic Hood & Jack Williams

20 Amazing Designs from Frightful to Fabulous

Create the best jack-o'-lantern on the block by taking a fresh approach to the old Halloween tradition! This book shows you how to use relief-carving techniques to create realistic features like cheeks, lips and eyebrows that really make your pumpkins come alive. Learn to carve 20 fun three-dimensional faces and scenes in solid pumpkins (no hollowing necessary) using tools ranging from kitchen knives to carving gouges and chisels. Complete information is provided for getting started, including an overview of tools and tips for finding the best pumpkin to work with.

Easy Carving Projects For Kids
by Robin Edward Trudel

This how-to guide provides projects for children and teens interested in awakening their creativity by learning carving and woodworking skills. The handbook's 35 carving projects are organized by increasing complexity and are divided into three age-ranges. From a simple xylophone and a baseball award to a double whistle and a woodcut scene, there's a skill-level-appropriate project to suit a wide range of ages. Group one, for children ages four to eight, features supervised projects using sanding and stamping tools. Projects in group two, designed for children ages nine to 12, make use of sanding tools and, for those who have enough dexterity and strength to use them, a knife or v-tool. Group three presents projects for teens requiring minimal if any supervision and who have the dexterity to make basic knife cuts and gouges. All of these projects can be crafted from commonly found pieces of wood.

Carving for Kids An Introduction to Woodcarving
by Robin Edward Trudel

The simple and beautiful art of woodcarving is adapted for children of all ages in this introduction to coaxing shapes and figures from solid blocks of wood. Requiring only a few tools and some inspiration, the projects in this collection are perfectly suited to building the skills it takes to work with wood. Safety and adult supervision are emphasized, but children will be able to complete the age-appropriate designs all by themselves. The graded projects range from carving a name stamp—for the youngest woodworkers—to carving a face—for teenaged craftspeople. The book also touches on computer-aided pattern-making, teaching children who face learning challenges, and methods for instructing kids of each age group—from elementary through high school. With its quick results and cumulative skill-building, learning to carve fosters hand-eye coordination and confidence as young carvers turn out unique handicrafts.

Carving the Human Face
by Jeff Phares

Chronicling all the stages in creating a realistic human face from wood, and illustrated with detailed photographs of more than 20 finished carvings, this book offers a wealth of technical how-to information for woodworkers and artists. Helpful information includes advice on handling tools, tips for working wood to resemble the shape of skin and muscles, and hints on carving realistic hats and headdresses. Also included are more than 20 diagrams that explain facial anatomy and how it relates to carving masks and busts.

Elements of Woodcarving
by Chris Pye

Elements of Woodcarving offers ten projects that cover a wide range of both classical and modern subjects in relief and in the round. It takes you through the entire carving process stressing the importance of design, material, and technique, factors that must be understood to be successful at carving.

Woodcarving Magic
by Bjarne Jespersen

Caution: Mind boggling woodcarving projects!

If you thought carving the linked chain or the ball-in-cage was a challenge, get ready for Bjarne Jespersen and his mind-altering woodcarving projects! Bjarne is a master woodcarver from Denmark and has spent his life studying geometric form.

In this book, he shares over 25 amazing designs and projects for woodcarving. From flat rings, to linked cages, to magic spheres and beyond—this is a book that will keep woodcarvers challenged for a long time! Each project includes detailed diagrams illustrating the carving process along with notes from the author about the composition and design.

Complete Beginner's Woodcarving Workbook
by Mary Guldan

The ultimate resource for getting started in woodcarving! All you need to start a rewarding hobby in woodcarving is an x acto knife, some wood, and this book by famed woodcarving instructor, Mary Duke Guldan. With illustrated instructions and detailed patterns, this book will guide you through every step. Select from any of the fully detailed projects for carving sun, dogs, cherub and others. Finishing tips are also included.

Carving Fantasy Characters
by Floyd Rhadigan

Patterns and Techniques for 15 Projects

If you love caricature carving but are getting a little tired of cowboys and Santas, this book is for you! Inside this book, you'll find 15 whimsical characters just waiting to be released from wood. Follow along with popular woodcarving instructor and author, Floyd Rhadigan as he takes you-step by step-through carving and painting a fantasy character. Once you master the basic skills, you can move on to the additional carving patterns that are included. From Eric the Red to Merlin, you'll have plenty of great new projects to choose from

Carving Fantasy Creatures
by Floyd Rhadigan

If you love caricature carving but are getting a little tired of cowboys and Santas, this book is for you! Inside this book, you?ll find 5 whimsical creatures just waiting to be released from wood. Follow along with popular woodcarving instructor and author, Floyd Rhadigan as he takes you?step by step?through carving and painting a fantasy dragons. Once you master the basic skills, you can move on to the additional 4 carving patterns that are included. From the reptilian knight to the gargoyle, you?ll have plenty of great creatures to carve!

Carving Fantasy & Legend Figures in Wood, Revised Edition by Shawn Cipa

Beginning and intermediate carvers will learn to create wonderful mythical creatures from wood with the patterns and projects in this book from noted author and carver Shawn Cipa. Carving Fantasy & Legend Figures in Wood, Revised Edition offers expert guidance for carving all the great creatures of legend, including wizards, dragons, faeries, mermaids, and more.

Two in-depth carving and painting demonstrations are each accompanied by dozens of step-by-step color photos. Detailed patterns and color reference photos are also provided for ten additional popular fantasy figures, including a unicorn, troll, gargoyle, phoenix, and gryphon. A basic introduction to woodcarving offers advice on using the proper tools, selecting wood and paint types, using patterns, and painting and finishing techniques.

History of Lovespoons Book
by David Western

For centuries, hand-carved wooden lovespoons have been used to demonstrate the deepest levels of love and affection. The history of this craft is steeped in rich tradition and symbolism. The carving of a lovespoon is a task that requires adept skill and concentration. These spoons showcase not only the carver?s innermost feelings, but also his ability to shape wood into the finest and most delicate lines possible.Inside History of Lovespoons, readers will learn how this beautiful and unique tradition came into being, and the significance of the symbols carved into almost every lovespoon handle. Filled with rich, vivid pictures of lovespoons from across Europe and Africa, and accompanied by their historical facts and legends, History of Lovespoons offers a highly engaging way to understand and appreciate this ancient romantic tradition.Gorgeous full-page photos, assembled from museums and collectors around the world, illustrate the beauty and detail of each lovespoon. A special chapter on lovespoon symbols takes an in-depth look at both traditional and modern lovespoons, examining the evocative symbols carved on their handles and explaining their significance and mystery to the reader.

Carving Spoons, Revised Second Edition
by Shirley Adler

Carving Spoons, Revised Second Edition is your introduction to the fascinating world of these hand-crafted objects of utility and sentiment. Classic in simplicity of form, spoons can be carved in an endless assortment of shapes ranging from primitive to contemporary. This book shows how to elevate the humble wooden spoon from a utilitarian object to a work of art.

Spoon carving instructor Shirley Adler will get you started making beautiful spoons to keep for yourself or give away. All you need are a few small scraps of wood and some common carving tools. Shirley provides step-by-step instructions for shaping the bowl and adding detail to the handle. She offers a thorough introduction to carving basics, from selecting tools and materials to making models, transferring patterns, sanding, finishing, and handling mistakes.

45 ready-to-use patterns offer dozens of mix-and-match designs for both beginning and experienced carvers. A colorful photo gallery shows a gorgeous selection of finished spoons, and an introduction to Welsh and Scandinavian spoon carving traditions provides a rich context for this historical craft.

Carving in the Round

This inspirational and informative guide is designed to take readers on a journey to develop their understanding of form, design, artistic creativity, and technical knowledge in woodcarving. Seven innovative projects, which gradually increase in difficulty, introduce and build on key techniques for beginners to learn, practice, and adopt. The freeform projects include a wave, fossil, cat, female torso, swan, emperor penguin, and humpback whale.

Woodcarving: Tools, Material & Equipment, Volume 2
by Chris Pye

From preparatory drawings and modeling to the many finishes that make completed carvings glow, here’s how you go about creating the actual project. Learn the differences between soft and hard woods, how to deal with defects such as splitting and knots, and discover how grain, hardness, texture and durability figure into your work. Photos guide you along the way. This new edition in two volumes, fully revised and expanded with new colour photography throughout will ensure that this work continues to be the standard reference source on the subject. The second volume covers many vitally important woodcarving topics including drawing and modelling, finishing, holding work safely, design of the workplace, using power tools, useful supplementary tools and an invaluable section on wood itself.