Compendium of Wooden Wand Making Techniques is a technique guide with tutorials for designing and carving wooden wands. Due out 24th Aug 2021 from Fox Chapel, it's 192 pages and will be available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

This is such an appealing and useful book for crafting wands using several woodworking techniques. The introduction includes tips and pages with prompts/blank sketch pages for readers' own designs as well as a good overview over woods, tools, and supplies. For fans of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, there are pages with lots of color photos of famous wands and their wizards. The wands are varied in shape and size and will appeal to all-ages. The tutorials are arranged by technique: hand carving, scroll saw, turned/lathe, and power tool carving. There are 5 tutorials in each chapter for a total of 20.

Each chapter begins with a general primer on tools and how to use them. The primers feature full color photos and tips from specialists in each technique. The instructions are clear and easy to follow and would be appropriate for all ages (younger crafters obviously need adult assistance). The individual tutorials contain a large close-up photo of the finished project, an introduction, and tools and supplies listed bullet-style in a text sidebar. Measurements are given in both American standard and metric (yay!). The tutorial steps are numbered sequentially and are accompanied by clear color photos which are easy to follow. The templates for each project are included in the book.

The included projects are all appealing and professional looking and they vary enough from one another that something is bound to appeal to most readers. The instruction and lessons in this book are great for skill building, allowing readers to take the skills learned to other projects.

Five stars. Well written and full of good tutorials from master crafters. This would be a good selection for public or school library acquisition, maker's groups, scouting, art / crafts in a classroom or workshop setting, or for the woodworker's workshop library.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This is a fantastic book with detailed instructions on how to make a huge variety of kinds of wands. There are many illustrations of all of the steps and they are made with all different tools and woods with all different methods, so if one kind of woodworking doesn't work for you there are still plenty of other projects.

The intro has all kinds of Harry Potter stuff and I felt that it would be better just skipping all of that. So many people will want wands for reasons besides that, and HP is just sort of problematic and passe to the generations younger than middle age since JPR keeps going out of her way to spread transphobic hate these days. I think most of the younger folks who will want to make wands like these will want to for much more diverse reasons than being caught up in Harry Potter stuff. And honestly, these are gorgeous enough that I can't see anyone not wanting one. Some even have hidden compartments, jewel inlays, you name it. I also love the fact that some are hand carved and easy to replicate, so there really is something for everyone.

Highly recommended.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

This books is awesome! Not only does it give you clear and concise tutorials, with pictures, to make your own wants, it provides great detail on the magical properties of different woods. I was thinking more along the lines of Harry Potter wands, but then I was pleasantly surprised and learned far more than I expected. An awesome book for any wood working, magical, and even Harry Potter loving friends!

The Compendium of wooden wand making techniques is a wonderful book filled with easy to follow tutorials and different wood working techniques. I was impressed with the section on the magical properties of woods and the artistic process shown in the book. This book would be a great guide for any serious magical practitioner or wand maker who is looking to further their practice. I enjoyed this book and I’m sure you will too.