I have to echo Clarke:

Work wood!  NEVER have I made something worse than the previous project;
each time I am astonished at how much easier and faster than last time.  NOT
because of all the books and magazines and catalogs, but because of
practice.

And buy the best tools you can afford.  I'd rather be the weakness in my
work, then have my puny skills pushing against the limits of my tool.
("This carving looks horrid; am I having so much trouble because the tool is
screwed up or because I am?")

-Shannon M. Salb