Architectural Carving: Techniques for Power & Hand Tools

darned good book!
a little over my ability, but i could do the stuff in this book if i set my mind to it. will give you new ideas and understanding.

Five Stars
Good book for getting ideas about design and techniques.

Fills the book gap between classical carving and woodworking
Here’s a guy that walks the walk – he makes his money by doing commissioned carvings. Succinct, down-to-earth style. Packed with loads if information. I’m sure that there are some carvers, such as my carving instructor, trained in the traditional European style of carving, who would take issue with some of his home-grown methods. But, to his credit, he did title the book ‘Architectural Carving’, not ‘High Art Carving’, so if you are looking for that sort of thing, check out Dick Onian’s excellent books. But if you want to dress up furniture, doors, etc, this guy shows you how to get the job done with few specialized tools. Since my training was in the more traditional style (no power tools or sandpaper allowed in class), I winced a couple of times at his ‘no holds barred’ approach, but I learned so much that I gave the book 5 stars. The author has had a lot of experience, and I’m glad he has shared it.

Some good tips – but kind of slapped together
Burton has some good advice and tips but I was really put off by the way the book is kind of slapped together. Very few of the projects he presents do you get to see finished – and as a result he comes off looking like a pretty mediocre carver. He’s probably better than that but judging from the cover photo how can you tell? Have you ever seen a rams head that looks like that? Bad lighting for the photography and lack of a clear explanations give the impression of a rushed amateurish book. I give him a lot of credit for the practical and clever jigs and the home built carving table (plans would have been nice!) but boy, I could not stand carving in that plywood box he calls a studio for long at all…I’d go nuts.