The excitement of carving

Press, 31 October 1981, Page 17

The excitement of carving

Carving in Wood: A Personal Approach to an Old Craft. By David Green. Gollancz, 1981. 137 pp. Illustrations, index. $27.95. (Reviewed by David Newman) David Green sets' out to describe his discovery of the enormously satisfying pleasures of carving in wood, and in the process provides a treasury of detailed information for those who share his hobby, or would like to share it. He has felt the appeal known to all carvers when he writes: “I saw inside the wood a great oval dish.” One can often see this kind of appearance in a piece of raw wood. One knows, that that particular piece of timber will be ideal for certain types of creation. The author has a great feeling for traditional crafts. He goes back to one of his earlier works and reflects

“the weight is not right and the distribution uneven.” Like other craftsmen, he has discovered that one senses when the piece being created is not right, and one knows instinctively that nothing one can do will right it. Still, a great deal can be achieved with proper use of tools and careful selection of woods. This book has an excellent section on tools, although the author offers an unusual method of taking a stone to a tool during sharpening. The table of common British hardwoods suitable for carving is useful in New Zealand also for much of the timber also grows throughout this country. Line drawings supplement the text; a useful bibliography is included; and colour plates show what can be found inside a piece of wood when it is “creatively worked.”