Im a teenager who is entirley new to woodworking and has never used anything more complicated than a screwdriver. I would like to know what tools would be advisble to start out carving small sculptures e.g animals, flowers etc and what wood to use. any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Carving small objects doesn't require much more than carving chisels and a mallet, however to get objects to the rough shape you would do well to have a band saw. For small objects a bench top model would be fine and reasonably inexpensive. For really small objects you could even get by with a coping saw to cut out the general shapes.
There are a number of woods to choose from but Basswood is probably the most popular for carving items with detail. You can carve walnut, butternut, and mahogany, but these are usually for furniture and not so much for small carved objects. Basswood is reasonably soft, readily available in sizes for carving, and reasonably inexpensive. I have experience using it for duck decoy carving and it holds detail very well because it is very tight grained. Pine is another soft wood that is often carved, you just have to make sure you get white pine and that it has a fine grain. It is not as good as basswood but is very readily available and inexpensive, something you may want to start of with.
Akkarin,
Congratulations on wanting to get into woodcarving, as a teenager. I did the same thing at the same age. MRGreer gave you some good advice. You don't need much to get into carving small animals.
Indeed, I would go even farther. I didn't get chisels for a long time. I just used a sharp pocket knife, and then graduated to a carving knife, which didn't cost much. I would recommend a knife first.
Then go to your local library and see if they have any books on carving animals. There are a number of "how to learn carving" books out there. Use any of them. Don't buy. Borrow from the library. When you find one you like, then go on Amazon, and buy it used.
As far as wood goes, the advice to use basswood is great. There is an even cheaper and easier way to start. I just went to a local hobby store and bought a bagfull of pieces of balsa wood.
Anyway, have fun. Please get back to us and let us know what you decided to do to get started. Then after you finish your first piece, take a digital photo and post it for us. You will get a lot of folks giving you support as well as advice.
The BEST way to learn how to carve is to carve a lot. So carve a lot. Don't worry about mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the faster you learn. Most important -- enjoy it thoroughly.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Cheers to all for all the advice, Im at this moment looking for a suitable carving nice on the internet (taking into account your suggestions on brand, sharpening, etc) and am off to the library tommorow to find a book. Please keep any more suggestions coming and hopefuly I'll be able to show you all the fruits of my labour soon.
Akkarin
Akkarin,Alright. You are on your way. Here's a thought. Every three or four carvings, try something that you think is really out of your league! If it doesn't work, no problem, because you didn't expect it to. BUT you'll be surprised how often it does. Carve some walking sticks. You can find the sticks in the woods. Carve something on the top. Carve some "low relief" bookends.
Learn how to carve letters. Have a blast. Carve a lot.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Your don't need any tools other than a knife. I would recommend something like the 'Old Timer' style as a start point - size to fit your hand and the work.
You will definately need something to sharpen with, but this too can be reduced to a single stone - I currently use a small arkensaw slipstone because it fits in my pocket and works well. A bit of honing compound on leather also helps.
If you need to remove a fair bit of waste a coping saw works well on the light types of timber recommended. If using a saw, you will need to secure the work with something other than your hand, so you may not go that way.
If you are doing this in your mother's sitting room, a dish towel over your lap to catch shaving saves a lot of hassle.
Total cost of this setup, including a good quality knife, should be less than $100.
Dave
Welcome to Knots, young man!
Carving can be fun, and it isn't particularly difficult. Among the most important carving skills (in addition to tenacity and imagination) are sharpening skills and the ability to "read" the grain of the wood.
In addition to a suitable knife, you'll need something to sharpen it - at its simplest, this can be accomplished by sticking various grits of wet-or-dry sandpaper (silicon-carbide; it's black) to a piece of glass.
There are books and magazines available that are full of carving ideas and plans.
Chip carving can also be accomplished with a sharp knife; it'll also teach you a lot about knife control and reading wood grain.
Have fun, work safely, and let us know how you're doing,
-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Akkarin,
One of our fabulous wood carvers here, Lee Grindinger(sp?), posted the attached picture as a good beginning starter set of tools. Others believe you should just buy as you go forward from project to project.
My advice would be to start with a carving knife (personally I like Cape Forge and Flexcut) and work from there. Cape Forge knives are relatively expensive and Flexcut's knives carry a smaller premium. You can definitely get by with less expensive knives if your budget requires. Probably the biggest difference is that cheaper knives will need some work when new and are likely to require more frequent attention to keep them sharp.
Sharpening is critical (you would't learn much about sharpening with a Cape Forge knife as it comes 'ready to go out of the box' and only needs stropping to keep it going and the Flexcut knives come ready to go as well).
Beyond a knife, I would pick a project that appeals to you out of a book and buy the tools the author recommends for that project.
Beyond a basic knife and a detail knife, I think you'll want to pick projects then buy the necessary tools versus the other way around. What tools you will ultimately purchase will depend largely on what you find you like to carve.
Matt
P.S.--Most carving tools (except some knives) require some work to get them functioning properly and suitable for your choice of materials. Learning how to sharpen and how tools should be shaped is very important. (I would listen to any advice you get from Lee Grindinger here and consider Chris Pye's books on tool selection/preperation). I think Lee has recommmended a couple of books on this forum recently as well.
I hope this info is of help. Try to find these two magazines, either through your library or at your local book store. First, 'Wood Carving Illustrated'. The editor, Roger Schroeder has written many books on wood carving, some basic, some more advanced. It has lots of articles and ideas. The second 'Carving Magazine', is similar in design. Both have beginners articles, tips and techniques and patterns. More important to you, they both have reviews of carving tools.
Go to : http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/fw_clubs.asp It is a state by state listing of woodworking clubs. Hopefully, there is one near you. Go to a club meeting and see what they are about. There will usually be someone there who will give you the info you need AND the encouragement to keep at it.
SawdustSteve Long Island, NY
Best wishes for you in taking on this hobby
You'll find lots of good information at the following websites:
http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com
http://www.norahall.com/
http://www.furniturecarver.com/carving.html
Enjoy,
-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Edited 8/18/2006 1:21 am by jazzdogg
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