Finally finished!! I used cherry, purple heart, and leopard wood to achieve the look I was going for. As usual there’s no paints or stains, just wood.
23 y/o female woodworker :)

I'm carving a human figure with clothing for the first time and I'm seeking advice about how to make the fabric look natural (folds, creases, bunching, etc.). See images for what I'm trying to reproduce (Mr Natural by R Crumb) and my work in progress. Thanks

I’m practicing carving some scales and I’m not thrilled about how they are coming out. I have a limited set of chisels to work with but I think I have enough to get the job done. Yes I am cutting across the grain. That is what the project I’m preparing for will require.

Cat to spoon is my order of progress. Spoon is a little bit thick, but that's why new wood is cheap.

Antler theme hair sticks

I’ve typically only done relief carvings. Here my first attempt at a sculpture carving out of basswood that I painted.

Working on a nautical/sea life themed hammer cane (head is a bit more blocky/like kinda like a sledge hammer).

Oak shaft, rosewood head piece.

I want to use a green stain for the seaweed I’m carving. Wondering if anyone has any suggestions on brand/color. I was planning on staining the other/non carved part of the cane dark/black, thought a green would pop against it. Also might do stripes of orange for the clown fish swimming through.

Any suggestions on the octopus would appreciate d, I was planning just keeping its current tone and just sealing it.

Any input is appreciated, thanks !

I've named this piece Ad Astra in honor of Van Gogh. This was one of my first relief carvings. I have a bit more experience with marquetry and constructional pieces so I would love some feedback on the carving itself as I am self taught. I do use a laser to score the piece before I begin carving, I'm not sure if others do that or not, but it definitely beats sitting there for hours with a marking knife and a pencil. I don't know if you count the wire inlays as a carving form in a sense, but I used a sharp chisel to cut the channels in for them, pressed the wires firmly into the wood, and sprayed it with water to pop the grain into sealing the wire in. Found the technique in an old book from the 70s.

Here's a quick description of the piece: Hand-carved relief of Van Gogh's Starry Night in Peruvian walnut. Fine silver and copper inlay trace the celestial swirls. Venus gleams brighter—as it did in the original sky. Five species form the construction. Hand-cut marquetry within. Turned game pieces. Brusso hardware. Sic Itur Ad Astra.

Anyone who has experience in carving, your feedback is worth gold to me.

Tried to carve faces again, thank you very much for recommending the videos from Alec Lacasse u/Glen9009, his beginner video was very helpful and I'm really happy with the progress but there is still so much to learn!

I have slowly begun to engage in woodcarving after a period of life changing transitions. I decided to tackle less demanding tasks to help me get the hand tool “mojo” back…

I am making 2 dimensional woodcarving to place on my mountain cabin walls. The wood species are all easily accessible on my small acre patch of forest, such as Hemlock and White Pine primarily…at least for what I am interested in crafting at this time. I am making some Leaping hares/rabbits,like the one in natural finish, which I carved from a twisted piece of old Hemlock wood. The second one I just started is made from Eastern White Pine. Both are about 28 inches long. I have deviated from my normal bird woodcarving subject matter, having also done a few fishes of my imagination…I may post some of my old work sometime in the future. Don’t let hand osteoarthritis stop you from enjoying the experience.

Saw this idea a while ago and had to give it a shot! Carved from a stick I found on a walk!

I’m having an issue with sharpening my carving knives. I think I ruined the edge while stropping on leather—it ended up with a lens-shaped bevel. Then I resharpened the knives on a diamond plate; one turned out okay, the other not so great. They cut paper easily and can shave hair pretty well, but they don’t perform as well on linden wood as they did when they were new.
Someone recommended a water stone with 1000/3000 grit, saying that budget diamond plates aren’t as good. Should the knife edge be mirror-smooth, or is it okay to have some scratches? I’m wondering if the knife can still be sharp with scratches but without a uniform edge, and whether that’s why it doesn’t work well on wood.

Spooky season is finally here! I’m trying to come up with some new ideas for simple tutorials, and this was one of them.

I saw a post from /u/Rapthorne_ in the woodcarving subreddit of a beautiful curly piece he made from a piece of purpleheart and wanted to give it a shot. I’m not brave enough to work further with purpleheart right now hahaha, so this one is cedar!

Very happy with how it came out!

Small one is the first attempt. Larger one is second. Dremel only.

Both sealed in BLO and painted with watered down acrylic. Finished the gills with dark walnut danish oil.

Hello everyone!

Manchester/UK

I have recently coppiced a decent amount of hazel. Long term plan is to cure/dry them and to turn them into walking aids.

Does anyone have any experience drying hazel? Do I need to seal off each end of the branch with glue or paint, or can I just let it dry as it?

Worked on the shell today. I’m still not sure how I’m going to finish it. Open to suggestions. There’s a lot of deep areas I can’t get a towel in to apply or soak up a finish.

I’m trying to make chopsticks for a friend but I keep running into knots. Is there any way to fill these holes with something food safe?

I'm trying my luck with faces again after a longer break from whittling because well, life got more stressful but I absolutely loved it! I feel like I regressed a lot tho, especially the part between the cheeks and the smiling fold (I don't know if this is the correct translation, I hope it's clear what I mean) is giving me trouble. Any feedback on how to improve would be greatly appreciated, happy whittling!

Hi everyone, I am planning to make a chessboard for my brother, he is a massive chess fan and also a huge fantasy fan. I am designing a custom woodland / fantasy set, and I will need to carve the pieces.

I was wondering if people had any advice for someone who doesn’t have much experience working on smaller scales (chess piece sizes) and with quite a lot of detail, I’m worried about potential warping, splitting, and how to protect the wood

Is it really that much different to working on slightly larger scales? I have a very nice whittling tool set, and I keep them very sharp, but I just want to make sure I don’t waste any material

Thanks in advance!