Blog Category

Beginner in Wood Carving

Every blog article filed under Beginner in Wood Carving.

August 11, 2024

Pointing Machine for Wood Carving

The old tool that lets a carver copy any model exactly. How a pointing machine works, the five step setup, and what Michelangelo really did with his models.

August 7, 2024

Wood carving for beginners, and which of the four to start with

Four kinds of carving exist, and the tools only make sense once you have picked one. What each needs in steel, which wood goes under it, and the one I would hand you if you walked into my shop today.

August 4, 2024

Wood Carving for Beginners, and How to Cut Your First Clean Groove

Your first cut tore instead of slicing, and the fix takes ten minutes. Which wood to buy, which tools earn their place, how to read the number stamped on a gouge, and why your first project should not be a spoon.

August 1, 2024

Small wood carving ideas you can finish with one knife

One knife, a corner of the kitchen table, and five projects worth carving. I cut a whole coffered ceiling with a single blade against a one month deadline, so the tool count is not what stops anybody.

July 23, 2024

What Causes Wood Warping and Cupping?(WOODCARING)

Mastering Wood Warping and Cupping Introduction: Join us on a journey to understand how wood movement affects your projects and how …

September 19, 2023

Is wood carving good for your brain? What the science actually found

Craft work most weeks meant 22 percent less risk of memory trouble in a study of 1,929 adults over 70. Four studies in plain English, what each one really measured, and how a master carver sets up a session that keeps working your brain after your hands go automatic.

August 1, 2023

Online wood carving classes, and what a camera can and cannot teach

More than 3000 recorded lessons, carved at your own bench on your own hours, for $200 a year. Here is what the camera shows that a classroom never can, what it teaches badly, and the four things to check before paying any school.

November 29, 2022

What should I carve as a beginner?

The honest answer is three knife cuts on a scrap of basswood, not an object. Here is the order I put in front of every beginner, with the tools, the wood and the first two projects.

November 9, 2022

What wood carving tools should a beginner use?

Wood carving tools for beginners are one knife, one gouge, and something to sharpen them on. What I buy, what I skip, and why one sharp tool beats a case of twelve.