217 articles in the archive · page 17 of 19
July 6, 2024
Weatherproof woodcarving for outdoor work that lasts
Three hundred year old window sashes in St Petersburg still look fresh, and all they ever got was boiled linseed oil. Here is what actually keeps a carving alive outdoors, which woods are rated durable, and the finishing mistake that can burn your shop down.
June 30, 2024
Wood carving tips that matter, and what really makes a master carver
Tips are worth very little on their own. What separates a carver who keeps improving from one who stalls is understanding why each move is made. Here are the reasons behind the moves, the layer trick that makes relief read deep, and the two places practice actually pays.
June 27, 2024
Why wood carving is so popular, and what keeps people at the bench
People watch carving videos for months before they touch a board. Here is what actually pulls them in, what stops about half of them by week three, and the one thing that keeps the rest at the bench for thirty years.
December 7, 2023
From Russia to America, and What I Carve Now
Alexander Grabovetskiy is a master wood carver, born in 1973 in Dimitrovgrad in the Russian part of the Soviet Union. His great-grandfather built mahogany furniture in the Chippendale style. He ruined his own grandfather's chisel on a brick at six, became the only student of the carver Vladimir Tokarev at sixteen, and reached the United States as a refugee on 15 March 1996 with almost no English. He built the woodworking firm Aalmark in Indiana, hired other refugee woodworkers, then sold every machine to carve full time. In 2012 a panel called Wall Decoration took first place and made him International Woodcarver of the Year.
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.
Everything above is free and stays free. The courses are where I put your hands on the gouge and watch what they do.
See what is inside →
February 22, 2023
Carving wood wall art that reads from across the room
A carved panel is a size and light problem before it is a carving problem. Here is how big to make it, which wall it belongs on, how deep it has to go, and the two places I would never hang one.
January 10, 2023
Wood carving techniques that change the work, and the order to learn them
Six moves decide how a carving reads from across a room, and they are worth wildly different amounts. Depth first, then the surface, then what the steel leaves behind. Here is the order I teach them in.
January 9, 2023
Mathematics for woodcarving, and who this book is really for
A 576 page cultural history at $74, weighed honestly against what a carver actually needs. Good for your eye, no help at your bench, and here is the geometry it leaves out.
January 2, 2023
Woodcarving classes near me when the closest one is 500 miles away
The nearest hand carving school is usually 500 miles off. Here is what a five day class really costs once flights and beds are counted, what a room gives you that a camera cannot, and how to begin this week with one gouge.
December 29, 2022
The Best Workbench for Woodcarving. What to Look For
What is The Best Workbench for Woodcarving? Listen, if you're serious about woodcarving, you need a solid workbench that can …
December 15, 2022
Is it possible to make money carving wood, and what it really pays
There is money in carving, and none of it arrives quickly. Where the work actually comes from, how to price by the hour instead of the object, and why a furniture maker with decades at the bench calls the carved part the slow half.