Heirloom Wood: A Modern Guide to Carving Spoons, Bowls, Boards, and Other Homewares Kindle Edition

The book was in like-new condition and arrived very quickly

This book looks really nice from the harbound cover to many of the photos inside. In that way the book succeeds. I found it to be much like looking at woodworking on Instagram- full of nice objects often make by bearded lumberjacks but a little thin on substance.What is listed seems to be accurate but really thin. The book starts with the author admitting he's only been at this a few years. While that struck me as a little odd and disappointing, his work speaks for itself - it's beautiful. He talks about finding and choosing wood. It's nice but a little simplistic. He seems to be talking about his personal situation in Brittain which is very different to where I live. Then the book goes into the tools. I might be in the minority here but I do like that he talks only about a couple knives gouges and others. He keeps it simple and if you are reading this book, it's very likely that you are a beginner. As a beginner I love the idea that you need to develop your skills before you spend lots of money on lots of tools. One of the most important parts for beginners is the knife grips section. While I'm fairly new at carving ( but a long time woodworker) I'll say that the section here is one of the more useful. Again, it's short in actual text but the info is clear and the photos are very helpful.Next are a few fun projects including a few spoons, a spatula, a knife and bowl. More of the same here - short simple text, nice photos - very basic.What I was most disappointed with in this book is the lack of info about learning to read wood grain- both visually and by the feel of your knife. As a long time hand tool user, understanding the wood grain directions and how to react to it- whether taking lighter strokes, turning the object or cutting in a different manner so as to make the cleanest cuts is so so important.I also think there's not enough info regarding cutting green wood and how keep it from checking/splitting. There could be a lot more info on the many many types of suitable woods. I'd enjoy some words about using trees/wood that you can find in urban locations. I suppose one could think of many improvements and additions this could have. That said, if you are really new to carving and you want some inspiration and or you like the "idea" of woodworking and want a book for your homemade coffee table you'll probably enjoy this book. If you are looking for an in-depth manual on carving simple objects, this won't come close.

This book is an excellent beginner's resource to wood carving and includes instructions for a few finishing techniques lacking in other manuals of this type. This will be one of the first books I recommend to anyone looking to get into wood carving.The instructions are clear and concise. The author cites his own experience and stresses using the bare minimum of tools available out there just to keep the cost low, a sign of a craftsman truly wanting others to enjoy their craft.What makes this a 4 star rating and not a 5 for me is the comapratively limited sections on wood types and finishing options. There are far more woods available out there for certain projects. Crepe Myrtle, for instance, is an excellent spoon wood and cures with a beautiful grain if a large piece is worked from. The lack of in class on of linseed oil is rather sad as, despite its long dry time, has been a staple in wood working for centuries.All in all though I won't hesitate to recommend this book and look forward to more works by this author in the future!

Excellent book. Well written addition to wookworkers library. I have worked wood in the shop and carved periodically for 30 years, but still picked up on some different tools, skill, and ideas. Simple for a novice, but fresh perspective for an expert to enjoy. I also liked his writing style.

I wanted to like this book. The introduction is good, as is the guide to what tools you need and the introductions to basic cuts for carving. After that, it’s pretty much useless, which is a shame because those are pieces of info you can easily find online for free. Woodworkers love helping beginners.The bulk of the book basically consists of short passages about how to create various projects, but the instructions are so vague as to be useless.An example from a passage about carving a spoon: “Take some time using the detail cut to create nice fluid transitions from the shoulders down to the end of the handle. Once you are happy with the shape of your handle, using the straight knife, revisit the bowl of the scoop to achieve an even thickness on the rim.”This doesn’t really give you any practical help in how to achieve fluid shoulder transitions or create an even rim thickness—it more or less just says to do those things. Even a beginner knows it’d be great to have a fluid and uniform final product. But does this book really explain how to do those things? No, and this is a consistent problem across all the projects. You’d get better advice on basic carving from any number of free websites out there. Save your money and do that, or shell out a bit more money for a book that’s actually useful.

Very nicely written book. Photos are great and helpful when you trying to start carving your first tools. I have been reading slowly for the second time. I only wish the part about the different woods was a little deeper and had more images to better distinguish the woods. Very useful glossary and list of references to where buy the different woodcarving tools need to start any of the projects described in the book.

I gave one star, not so much for the content of the book, but for poor quality binding. It broke at the spine and basically had no choice but to remove the cover. I’ve had the book for a month and a half, so the window for returning it is closed. As others have mentioned, the photography is probably the best part of this book. Now I have a copy with an ugly ass cover.

The media could not be loaded.  Beautiful book. Read it in a day! Only problem is that the cover is right side up and the pages are upside down! Keeping it because it causes people to giggle when they see me reading it!! 😂😂😂Maybe that’s the modern bit?

I was looking forward to this new book having read 'The Urban Woodsman'. But when it arrived it was the same book with a new cover photo and a different name. This is very misleading and it is also over 3 times the cost of the Urban Woodsman.

Nowhere in the description does this mention that this is simply a better designed cover, with a new name, on exactly the same book - originally The Urban Woodsman… which is still for sale.So I have both, have missed Amazons return window but have a delightful feeling of being ripped off by the publisher (Kyle books) and Mr Bainbridge himself.I know publishers do these kinds of “moves” and, as an author, it can be hard to prevent them but this is seriously damaging Mr Bainbridge's (lots of similar reviews to this popping up) reputation and, at the very least he/they should be altering the description.

The sad bit was that was not even a great book if you really like carving. Spon is a much better book if you are into carving and at a lower price

Just a copy of the urban woodsman in a different front & back cover. Somewhat devious to call it by another title. I have therefore sadly returned my copy for refund

I wish i had read all this review before. I get this and i found that is the exact copy of the book Urban Woodsman.