Fantastic Book of Canes, Pipes, and Walking Sticks, 3rd Edition: A Sketchbook of Designs for Collectors, Woodcarvers, and Artists (Fox Chapel Publishing)

Some books have information and no photos. This book is the opposite. If you just want pictures buy it.

I bought this book as a Christmas gift for my brother-in-law. Hand-carved pipes and walking sticks definitely seemed like things he'd be into. As it turns out, he really likes the book. Before wrapping it up, my wife and I browsed through the pages.First, let me admit that I'm an engineer. I am not the least bit artistically inclined (or gifted) and have very little creativity. However, the quality of the hand-drawn illustrations and the depth of the author's explanations started to make me feel as if even I could attempt some of these carvings. My wife, on the other hand, is very creative and has a very strong artistic side. She absolutely loved the book and everything about it.A very small subset of the carvings (perhaps 2 or 3) contain partial human nudity. Generally, this occurs in depictions of fairies or nymphs, the sorts of beings one might expect to find only partially clad. But it is tastefully done and easily within the context of the artwork being created.The Bottom Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~I give this book 5 stars without reservation. Overall, the illustrations are excellent. The book is full of original, creative ideas for carvings, as well as enough "basic" ideas to ignite individual creativity. I recommend this book for anyone looking for creative carving ideas. If you're artistic (like my wife), the basics will help you get started with your own designs. If you're not (like me), you can still use the step-by-step guides to create some pretty nifty walking sticks or pipes.

A fun book, full of incredibly imaginative and inspiring imagery. The ideas presented however, are not generally practical for the novice wood carver, but they are inspiring. I am thrilled to add this book to my library.One reviewer suggested that the book was somewhat tainted because of partial nudity. I looked hard to see what he was referring to and found very very little nudity, none of it in the least offensive. It could actually have used more examples. It is art.

This book may be good for inspiring ideas on your own, but it offers little in the way of how to actually build these things. It's mostly drawings of sticks that COULD be made but not actually completed projects. There are far better books on the subject available.

Great imaginative designs, lovely and bizarre flights of fancy that makes walking sticks more of an artistic expression than a device to assist mobility. The downside is that the designs sometimes veer away from anything practical, and would impede walking rather than assist. Still, well worth the price for idea mining.

I like the many designs in this book and the detailed illustrations and pictures of actual works. I'm a beginner collecting inspiring materials and this is great for that.

My brother makes pipes and this made a great gift to help inspire him

I have several books on canes and walking sticks, but this is the only one that has pipes, and the reason I purchased it. It has some good information and ideas for sticks and pipes, but I felt further study was necessary, lacked technical specs.It has some interesting designs that I can appreciate.

This was first time purchase from Amazon Warehouse. Disappointed - top left han corner of whole book twisted out of shape. OK otherwise.

Very interesting with some wonderful illustrations ! Great for people with an interest in all sorts of walking sticks and pipes!

Bonjour, voilà un ouvrage très intéressant tout a fait à la hauteur de mais attente. Il ne faut pas pensée que dans ce livre vous allez trouvez des détailles en couleurs, ou des écrits. C'est un ouvrage de croquis de petit format, qui contient une très grandes quantités de croquis pour réalisés des canes et une parti pour réalisés des pipes. Depuis que je le possède il est un peut comme une bible de sculpteur passionnée que je suis par le sujet des pipes, un avantage pour moi que d'avoir fait cette achat, il faut de l'imagination supplémentaire personnelle à l'ouvrage ce qui vient encore donner plus de piment a vos créations, de plus vous pouvez toujours avec de l'imagination prendre un motif cane et le transformé en pipe ou l'inverse. Si le sujet vous intéresse et uniquement si c'est le cas, alors cette ouvrage doit faire parti de votre bibliothèque.J'ai déjà réalisées 3 pipes depuis cette achat et cela n'est que le début.Cordialement Sandrine

Now this guy's a weirdo, but there's nothing wrong with that. Lots of drawings, but almost no technique. Need to be a good woodcarver to appreciate and use the sketches as inspiring stuff.

Great Christmas present for the carver in the family. He enjoys having reference books and seeing new ideas!