Looking for a good beginner’s project that doesn’t even require a band saw to make a cutout? The hunter—for which you could easily substitute another character such as a farmer, fisherman, hobo—takes a very small wood investment. I use a piece of basswood or pine, cut to size at the local lumberyard, that measures 1 3/4" square by 9 ' inches long. Not only is this figure a good introduction to flat plane carving, a technique that shapes the wood with knife cuts instead of power tools and sandpaper, but it also has simple anatomy. The face is shaped with a few cuts; there are no hands to carve; and the gun is made separately and added on after the figure is carved.

Given a square piece of wood, it’s easy to mark off where the features belong on the block.

Grain direction has to be decided before carving. The arrow points to the front of the piece. With the grain running toward the front, I don’t have to worry about breaking off the nose or the peak of the cap.

By cutting away v-shaped pieces of wood, I quickly establish where the transitions and anatomical changes are: head to body, bottom of the coat, bend of the knees, tops of the boots.

I get the body generally shaped using a leverage cut. With the knife held in one hand, I use the thumb of the opposite hand to push on the back of the blade. But I don’t push the blade into the wood. Instead, I position the blade near its tip and, as I push the blade into the wood, I work it toward the base of the blade. It’s what I call a skewing motion. I have both control and a mechanical advantage.