Whittling and Woodcarving by E.J. Tangerman (1962, Paperback)

I am new to carving but this book takes us back too far. Today's tools are not covered so it is not that much help. I guess some of these old books just get pushed on us year after year.

This book was something of a disappointment. I have enough experience with old books to know that unless one is concerned with using power tools or electronics, most of the information contained in them remains pretty constant. I thought this book would be much more concerned with techniques of general whittling and wood carving. Instead it dealt with specific projects and patterns which, to me, were kitsch, "cute" frivolity in dubious taste and in which I am not interested. I was looking for solid information that could be applied over a much broader area. Understanding that while strokes demonstrated in use on carvings that are of little interest may also be used for my own purposes, I felt that this book did not deal sufficiently broadly with its subject to be of generalized use.