Beginners Books

???I am new at carving, I am taking a night school course. It involves mostly power carving. I have really gotten into it and have many power and hand carving tools. What I would like are some detailed books for beginners. Decoys, caricatures, animals . I will have to order them, so I would like some help selecting the right books. I would like them to be simply detailed. So I can understand them easily. I would like any suggestions any of you have. Thank you!!!
I am interested in any kind of carving.

[Captain_Bandaid]

The first book I bought was How to Carve Wood by Richard Butz. It was simple enough for a beginner but had many interesting projects involving all kinds of carving. Any of the books by L.S. Irish are good for relief carving, be sure to visit her site: www.carvingpatterns.com. Any book by Harold Enlow will give you good patterns for caricatures. Check out the book department on this website, too.

I believe a subscription to thie magazine sponsoring this site will still get you a copy of the Power Carving Manual. This manual will give you lots of info on power carving as well as quite a few patterns to work with. The magazine subscription will give you info on a variety of carving methods and styles. It is probably better than getting a single book for the same $$$$$$$.

3 books that I have seen that lead a carver step-by-step from a blank piece of wood to a finished carving they can be proud of are: (anyone please feel free to correct my spelling or exact titles) Harley Refsal's 'carving in the scandanavian style'; Pete LeClair's 'carving a caracature from scratch'; and ? Bollinger's 'carving an heirloom santa'.

All three use knives and a few gouges and are very easy to follow. If I had picked up those books when I first started I am sure I would have had more 'imediate gradification'. I can't recall if they covered sharpening tools in those books though and that is something you will want to know so a second for the butz book for an overall view of things.

Dave