Chip Carving: Techniques & Patterns

Rating:
Summary: Beginners guide to chip carving
Review: A good basic book about chip carving. Covers selection of wood, tools and their maintenance, technique, and a brief history of chip carving. Also includes a variety of patterns.

Rating:
Summary: The best place to start.
Review: I learned to chip carve from reading this book. The patterns and work shown are somewhat simple and are easily attainable. Barton's descriptions and explainations are clear and if you follow what he does, it inspires enough confidence to continue.

Rating:
Summary: Not Impressed
Review: I was not impressed with this book in the least. Maybe it was because I had just finished reading Chris Pye's book Wood Carving Tools Marerial & Equipment. Now this book is about another form of carving but it is many times superior in handling its topic.

An example is in Barton's book he covers wood selection, and finishing in roughly 2 pages in Pye's book he covers the material in 40 pages covering the issue in far greater detail.

This book contains very little instruction (less than 1/5 of the pages). There are a few illustations on technique but they are very lacking.

Now if you are really interested in looking at examples of completed work or you just need some templates for lettering, then this is your book. There is also a section detailing how to scribe out various rosette forms.

Overall, I can not recommend this book as a "technique" book but it makes a good book to use for the templates and rosettes.