Customer Reviews

Basic Chip Carving with Pam Gresham

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have several of Wayne Barton's books on chip carving. Although nicely done they pale in comparison to Pam Greshams works. Although she does not claim to be a trained teacher this lady does it better than anyone else out there. She will have you carving the basic chip in about 30 minutes. And best yet, she explains each movement and how to do it clearly and with great aids.
I can't say enough good things about this book. I only wish there was a companion video to go with it. If you are interested in chip carving don't be afraid to buy this book. It's worth every penny.

Never chip carved in my life. This book gives anybody a chance. Tons of pictures that illustrate everthing the author is explaining. My first thought was that Pam Gresham was one those "once in a lifetime teachers" BEFORE she started carving. That not being the case she has a gift in both teaching and carving. According to her credits she has earned numerous awards.

Highly recommended

I am a newbie to chip carving - and have purchased 2 Wayne Barton books to get started. They had great pictures as inspiration - but do nothing for the beginner who has no technique to make these sophisticated cuts.

This book reminds me of learning to play the piano. You start with basics like chop sticks and gradually learn to add parts til you're playing beautiful music. It starts with basic exercises and real projects with basics and expands gradually with each chapter - expanding on the basic cut toward more difficult cuts. i.e. cutting simple triangle - to more complex straight patterns / to curves - and projects to tie them all together. It also covers basics like creating and laying out a pattern onto a piece of wood - which isn't mentioned in my Barton books.

I'd highly recommend this for the beginner or anyone who finds themselves questioning basics of technique for various cuts.

Jake

I cannot give this book enough stars, and it is worth 5 times the price they are asking for.

This is a large book, A4 sized, it is packed with useful photos and diagrams, approx. half the photos are glorious colour, essential for carving (to get a good idea of the depth and form).

Chip carving has always been a bit of a mystery to me, within 2 minutes of opening this book it was completely clear what the diagrams meant (I did not realise they were indicating depth of cut) ... the book is a series of projects, each of which builds upon your skill and grows more complex, covering all aspects of chip carving.

I cannot imagine a book on chip carving being better than this. If you are looking for one, get this one, and good luck.

I'd give Pams book 6 stars but the selection box wouldn't let me. Pam's book is an excellent step by step, add on, and expand upon set of exercises. She goes into detail on explaining how to with everything, from layout, how to draw all of the designs in her book; how to hold your knife in the basic positions and each lesson builds upon the last. Every progression is done step by step. She is outstanding in holding your hand and guiding you through all of the steps of the exercises. Wayne Barton's books are excellent. Unfortunately, you have to have some basic knowledge on design and technique and carving expertise. For experienced chip carvers his books are really great source books. His video is excellent for seeing chip carving technique at it's very best. Worth the purchase. Most important of all is using razor sharp knives else you'll be very frustrated and disappointed in the results. Get Wayne Barton's ceramic stones and a good leather strop with some rouge to rub on. Your blade will have a mirror finish.I glued some old pieces of leather to both sides of a 10 inch by 2 inch wide by 1/4 inch thick piece of wood. One side for rouging, the other to polish. When I've layed off for quite a while, I always pick up Pam's book to get my hands and fingers in shape and go through the basics. At 75, my fingers tend to stiffen up a bit. She got me my first blue ribbon at a craft show for my chip carving designed tool box back in 1993. Pam is not very good with computers but she is in a class by herself when she designed this truly outstanding do it yourself chip carving text.
Grampa Joe

I am a newcomer to the craft of chipcarving, so my review reflects my current state of nearly complete ignorance. First, in no particular order, the many positive features of the book:

1) The plan and organization of the book are excellent for a beginner. The first presents the minimal equipment needed, moves on to instruction on sharpening, and then on to a series of graduated practice exercises that, once mastered, provide the beginner with sufficient ability to execute some pleasing work.

2) The photography in the book is profusive and quite good. The shots are all clear and non-grainy.

3) For each practice exercise the author presents an outline sketch showing the order and directions of each successive cut. These sketches are well-thought out and usefully summarize a lot of information.

4) Each practice exercise is accompanied by clearly explained and clearly illustrated (by means of photographs) instructions for laying out the pencil lines required to to execute the exercise.

If you have read this far, you are probably wondering why I did not award the book 5 stars instead on three stars. The reason why is that I find a certain rather critical portion of the instructions, namely that having to do with the position of the knife throughout each specific cut, to be logically incoherent. The written instructions for cut one of exercise 1, for example, say to start the cut with the knife straight up and down and then gradually lay the knife over till it is parallel with the bottom line of the triangle at the end of the cut. Now the photographs accompanying the instructions for this cut clearly show the knife cutting at approximately a 65 degree angle to the wood throughout this cut. The most straightforward way to interpret "straight up and down" would seem to be to hold the knife blade at a 90 degree angle to the wood, but of course this would contradict the pictures. Indeed, I cannot imagine how one could possibly execute the required cut if you start with the knife blade at a 90 degree angle to the wood. So I am completely mystified as to what the author means here by her "straight up and down" and "laying over" instructions--probably something pretty important to getting good results, and I really wish I did understand what she is trying to convey. Now I realize that trying to explain the fine details of some manual movement in words and still photographs is a daunting task, and the author is to be commended for making the attempt. It is just that for me, at least, the attempt does not work. Perhaps some well-executed line drawings with angles, etc. marked out on them might have turned the trick.

I have several chip carving books; however, this one is my favorite, because it tells me everything I need to know as a beginner. She could improve the accuracy on her illustrations; however, I still like the book and recommend it to all beginning chip carvers.

I purchased several different chip carving books over the last couple of years when I stumbled into this hobby and was hooked after watching a 10 minute video clip. This was not the first book I bought, but when I did, I greatly appreciated the author's explanations that were straight-forward but also came from her unique viewpoint. Things I'd read in other books began to make sense and I realized there is some flexibility in areas. While I'm no expert, I caught my wife showing off pieces I'm working on to guests. My favorite part of the book is the approach to creating designs. I can always find helpful tidbits even now when I am working on a design and need something to round out a design. If you're really interested in this type of chip carving, buy a pile of good quality basswood boards (lots of places online) and practice doing the basic cuts and designs shown in the book. And keep those knives sharp!

Very good, easily understood "how to do." Good supporting photographs. Never a "what is the author trying to say?" moment. Author relates choice of tools, differences to other wood carving techigues, selection of woods, and projects. Excellent, and clear explanation of HOW to make the cut. Most of the book teaches the cuts, and design of the pattern. A section on honing, and discussion of the importance of high quality, super sharp tools (and the specialty of a chipping knife) to enhance carving enjoyment. A photo gallery and a few basic projects to inspire the reader to design an original.

Chip carving is much fun/rewarding, and compliments other carving types and projects. Chip carving METHODS are very handy to know when doing other carving.

Highly recommended.