Wood Carving Tutorial

Chip Carving Knife

Probably the first tool a wood carver starts with is a knife. Its primary use is for whittling and chip carving. A chip carving knife has a blade about 1 1/2" long, and has a handle designed to fit comfortably in the hand. Like gouges, it should be made of high carbon steel that will hold an edge for a long time.

Carpenter's Chisels

These chisels have a flat edge (#1 sweep). They are not usually used for sculpture, because the edge of a flat chisel tends to dig into the wood, twisting and plunging the tool deeper on one side than the carver may have desired. They can give a crude, unschooled look that may be desirable on some types of sculpture, like Outsider Art.

U-Gouges

Gouges are the work horses of wood carving. U-gouges are designated by the width of the cutting edge (in inches or millimeters), the sweep, or the amount of curvature of the cutting edge(an arbitrarily assigned number), and the shape of the shaft (straight, bent, spoon, or back bent).

Gouges can be purchased with these characteristics:
  -in widths form 2mm (1/16") to 60mm (2 3/8")
  -in sweeps from #2 (a barely perceptible curve) to #11 (a very deep, half round curve)
  -in straight, bent, spoon, and back-bent shafts.

V-Gouges

V-gouges are designated by the width between the top edge tips and the angle of the vee bottom edge.

Gouges can be purchased with these characteristics:
  -in widths form 2mm to 30mm
  -in 60 degrees (#12 sweep), and 90 degrees (#13 sweep)

Bent and Spoon Gouges

These specialty gouges are used to get into inaccessible spots on a carving that a straight gouge can't reach.

Bent Gouge: the entire length of the shaft is curved.

Spoon Gouge: the final 1 1/2" of the shaft is deeply bent in a spoon shape.

Back-bent gouge: a spoon gouge with the curve reversed so the cutting edge is convex instead of concave.

Skewed Chisel

A skewed chisel's cutting edge is angled back from the leading edge at a 45 degree angle.

Palm Tools

A chip carving knife and an assortment of palm gouges are all that is needed for creating small carvings in basswood or other soft woods. It is best to purchase individual chisels that you know you will be using. Unfortunately, sets of tools usually include several chisels in shapes that you may seldom use.

Mallet

The traditional mallet for carving is cylindrically shaped and made from a heavy, dense hardwood.

I prefer using a rubber mallet. While it doesn't have the driving power of wood mallet, it is less noisy, and easier on the chisel handles, and has some spring that brings the head back up for the next swing.

Foredom Flexable Shaft Tool

Foredom tools have a motor (1/8 -14 HP depending on the model), and run at up to 20,000 RPM. A flexible shaft extends from the motor to a hand piece that holds a wide variety of burs and bits used for shaping and texturing wood. Its variable-speed capability is operated by a foot pedal.

The Foredom tool is an invaluable tool that can speed up carving. It reaches into small places that chisels can't go, models wood with almost disregard for the grain direction, makes sanding quick and easy, and allows the creation of textures that can not be made in any other way.

Burs and Accessories

A wide variety of burs are available to fit the several different styles and sizes of Foredom hand pieces. Burs that may have been intended for other purposes can be used for woodcarving, such as single cut and double cut carbide burs (intended for metal work).

Tungsten carbide and burs coated with industrial diamonds can be used for texturing wood. Drill bits can placed in the adjustable chuck hand piece for drilling holes.

Small sanding discs and drums are also available for sanding and finishing.

Drill Press

The drill press is another invaluable shop tool. It drills precise holes, but other attachments can be added, such as a sanding drum.

Belt Sander

A belt sander is another tool that comes in handy for doing so many things that come up during a carving project. Once you have one, it seems indispensable.

Planer and Joiner

The planer and joiner are used to surface wood, giving boards flat sides. If you plan to laminate boards into larger blocks for carving, flat surfaces are necessary.

These tools are nice to have, but I worked for years without them. I just had to pay more to have my wood supplier mill the boards when I purchased them.

Chain Saw

A chain saw is a very useful tool to rough out logs for large carvings. For shop use, I prefer an electric model.