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

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.

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.

Don't buy this book if you have a copy of The Urban Woodsman. I did. They changed the cover and the title but they are the SAME book!

Pretty pictures and nice quality paper makes it nice to look at or show someone who has never heard of carving a spoon. But there is little substance here. The level of information provided is pointed at someone who has never whittled or carved or seen a carving video.

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.

Same exact book as Urban Woodsman. Has a chapter devoted to each. Making Cutting boards and making sandwich boards. Much better books for spoon carving and other green wood projects out there. Don't waste the money.

Item arrived on time and in excellent condition!!😀 This book is absolutely amazing. It highly exceeded our expectations in every way!! The content is very clear and easy to understand. Very well written with excellent pictures to go along with instructions. I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in learning a new skill.

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 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.

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

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

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.

I think a lot of thought was put into the aesthetics of the book. The writer feels like they really enjoy what they do, but the book as well feels well crafted (unless you order it from amazon and it arrives like it was tossed around in a cement mixer for a week or two. you know, as per amazon policy). Subtle things like page thickness and embossed letters (i think that's the right word) make reading it a pleasant experience. The pages are heavy. So much so I often turned a page but felt like I had skipped a page as it felt like I turned two pages.The contents of the book are pretty much on par. Well written and well explained, for the most part. As a complete amateur coming into this i would have liked more details on some things. The book never stays too long on one topic and I feel just even adding an extra paragraph of info would have been more useful. That being said, everything is explained in (almost always) plain english and the pictures do well, most of the time, to show what you need to see and be doing. It is not very long and there really isn't much more than the title of the book (Spoons, Bowls, Boards, and other Homewares) describes. The "other homewares" was only maybe 3 things. A cutting board and another board similar to a cutting board. A spoon, another spoon, and another type of spoon leaves it feeling less diverse than I think it could have been. However since the book did not lie on this point, they are other wares for the home, I cant really fault it. More that I am just a little disappointed.Overall I think this was a pleasant surprise and should not be one bought on kindle. Just don't expect full details.