Wood Carving
A guide to woodcarving and some personal projects.
Overview
Wood carving has to be one of the most instantly rewarding hobbies I’ve ever learned. $50 will get you professional-grade tools and materials, and a couple hours practice will have you carving impressive pieces on day one. Most early projects can be finished in 1 to 2 hours, and there’s simply something magical about turning a rough block of wood into a lively little figure.
Getting Started
I learned everything I know from watching YouTube videos. Doug Linker’s channel in particular has been the single best resource in my wood carving journey. Doug creates excellent caricatures in easy-to-follow videos. He always makes several versions of a project before recording the final one for public viewing, so by the time he shares it, his advice is clear, concise, and full of helpful tips. Doug excels at using minimal cuts to convey the shape and emotion of a piece, and I cannot recommend his videos enough. Here are a few I followed along with:
- Safety and Techniques plus Carving a Moravian Star: A great intro to wood carving techniques and safety, along with a simple project to get you started.
- Guide to Gouges: You’ll notice his two favorite gouges are almost identical to the ones in the Flexcut Palm and Knife Set KN600.
- Wizard: Learn to make awesome little wizard ornaments with just a few simple cuts.
- Bear: A delightfully cute bear carving.
- Owl: A simple owl carving full of character.
Doug has many more excellent videos. Here are some that I plan to try in the future:
- Gnome Door
- Hillbilly Gnome
- Mushroom: I’m really looking forward to trying the round door one at 32:58.
- Cardinal
- Santa Ornament: I love the details in this one.
- Fisherman
- Gnome
- Custom Blade Cover
- Painting and Finishing
- Carve Little Books
- Carve a Chicken
Essential Tools
As I mentioned, you can start wood carving for around $50. While I now own an embarrassingly large collection of carving tools, you can easily complete all the projects on this page with just the following items:
- Cut Resistant Gloves - $15: A sharp wood carving knife can easily cut through your finger and then into your bone. I always wear a cut-resistant glove on the hand holding the wood. There are plenty of options on Amazon, but these are the ones I have tested and trust.
- BeaverCraft GW10 Basswood Carving Blocks - $20: Basswood is soft, easy to carve, and perfect for both beginners and experts. This pack of 10 blocks is great for small projects and much better than using random wood you might have lying around. Well worth the money.
- Flexcut Cutting Knife KN12 - $20: Flexcut makes professional-grade knives, and if you only buy one, this should be it. It’s my most-used, most-versatile knife from Flexcut and will get you through many beginner and intermediate projects.
Other Tools
Here are a few other notable tools that I’d like to talk about.
- Flexcut Palm and Knife Set KN600 - $70: To my knowledge, this is the highest quality, most complete beginner wood carving set available for under $100. It includes two palm gouges, a standard knife, and a detail knife. They are all made from 1095 carbon steel, which takes a fine edge and is easy to sharpen. The handles are comfortable, and the blades are thin but sturdy, and they making carving effortless. You’ll be able to carve almost anything with this set. If you want to buy the pieces individually over time, the set includes the KN12 Cutting Knife, KN13 Detail Knife, FR306 #6 x 5/16” Sweep, and FR307 70° x 1/4” V-Tool.
- Flexcut Chip Carving Set KN115 - $48: A specialized 3-piece set for chip carving, which involves creating intricate designs by removing small chips of wood. While high-quality, it’s not essential for beginners, and I don’t use it nearly as much as I thought I would.
- Morakniv Wood Carving 120 Knife - $30: This is an excellent roughing knife for larger projects. It’s thicker and longer than the Flexcut knives, making it great for removing large amounts of wood quickly. I own the laminated variant, which holds an amazing edge due to its hardened core (60-61 instead of the CS’s 58-59).
- Handmade Knives: There are many talented makers of beautiful, high-quality carving knives. I own two by Mike Shipley from Ozark County Carving Tools, both purchased for less than $30 each. I have the 1” Detail Knife and the 1.5” Carver Knife, both in Walnut and made from O1 tool steel. These are excellent knives and well worth the money.
- BeaverCraft Whittling Knife - $13: This was my first carving knife, and I hate it. The blade is double the thickness of the Flexcut, making it insufferably hard to use. I also own their strop, and it was a waste of money. Avoid BeaverCraft tools.
Maintenance
Your knives will get dull, no matter how expensive they are. If you get into wood carving and decide to stay with the hobby, invest in a balsa strop and diamond compound for about $20. If you carve a whole lot, you should also consider getting a 3000-5000 grit stone. Check out my post on Japanese Whetstones for specific recommendations.
My Projects
My own first projects were simple practice exercises. You can see how I practiced stop cuts and chip cuts, and carved a star and a sphere. The stop cuts help you get a feel for the technique, the star solidifies your ability to make strong and accurate cuts. The sphere is a great, if tedious, exercise in control.
Click the pictures to enlarge or view as a slideshow.
After the introductory exercises, my first real project was a wizard ornament. You can keep these simple or add more detail. I’ve made two, and I prefer the low-poly version to the more detailed one. Once you get the hang of these, you can make them in about 30 minutes.
I also tried carving a little man, which was a lot for a first serious attempt, but it was a great learning experience. The details in his tiny hands, smaller than a pinky nail, are particularly satisfying, especially his right index finger and thumb. However, you can see clear signs of my early lack of skill, such as the flat arms protruding awkwardly from the body. This is easy to fix with a couple of undercuts, but I hadn’t fully grasped this technique at the time.
Throughout my woodcarving journey, I’ve tried to follow the philosophy that perfection is the enemy of happiness. I could certainly spend countless hours trying to perfect each and every carving, but I get far more joy out of moving to the next fun project and seeing my growth over time.
This owl carving might be my favorite. The little chest feathers give it so much character. These particular images also make clear how big of a difference lighting and shadows can make in a photo. Often the harsher the lighting, the more dynamic and three dimensional the carving looks.
This grasshopper was my first carving done entirely by myself without following a tutorial video. It can be a lot easier when you are following someone else’s vision, cutting where they cut and working towards their design. Doing this one by eye was both easier and harder than I expected, but I’m really pleased with how it turned out.
There’s something simply delightful about the rotund softness of this wooden bear. Although I did this carving just to goof off, I think it ended up being one of my favorites. Take special note of the dimensionality of the arms, compared to the little man that I did earlier. By this point, I had watched many more of Doug’s videos and had better understanding of how to undercut the arms for a more realistic look.
All the previous carvings on this page were from 2021, when I first started carving. These later ones are from October 2024, when I picked up the hobby again after a long absence. These little mushroom houses are very fun, and a think I’ll be doing more of them, as well as maybe some mushroom faces.
Round doors are a massive pain to carve, and I doubt I will be making a habit of it.
My sharpening skills have improved greatly since 2021, so it was interesting to revisit carving with my new standards for sharpness. I took some time to examine my carving knives under the microscope throughout the carving process, and the edges were pretty rough. During carving, there is a blatant performance difference between a knife that is passably sharp and one that pops arm hairs.
All my main knives have a flat grind, and I think the edge may be too weak to hold up to lengthy carving sessions. I did several sharpenings and stroppings throughout the carving, and I want to experiment more with different angles to see if I can get a more durable edge.
This is the first carving I’ve painted. I’ve always been extremely hesitant to paint my carvings…what if they look terrible? But, I rather like how it turned out.
I oiled with Tung oil first, and then painted it with Arteza Metallic Acrylics. The metallic paints give the mushrooms a nice vibrant, fantasy gleam. The paints get darker with second coatings – for example I only did one coat of white, so in real life you can still tell there is wood underneath, and it gives a neat effect.
I also made some quick videos of my carvings on a rotating stand, which is a fun way to view them from all angles.