[revnate]

I am a beginner at carving (4 mos now). I have done a Santa thing, and tried some faces on the corners of basswood, even did one in Cedar. Am I starting with the right projects for a beginner? Should I be doing something different?

Also, I have flexcut tools, and knives. Is that the right knife for a beginner?

Thanks for you help.

[AlArchie]

Nate, it sounds as though you are on the right track. I'd suggest you find a good beginners woodcarving book to help with the basics. check your local library for one. Here is a link to a fair selection of beginners books.....most are under 12 bucks. http://www.littleshavers.com/Books13.html

Also check Fox chappels selection of books from this site. http://www.foxchapelpublishing.com/searchproducts.cfm

Over on www.carvingpatterns.com L.S. Irish (Susan on this board) are some excellent tutorials and patterns on carving, sharpening and all sorts of other info. some is free and some is reasonably priced.

There is also a Boy Scout Wood Carving Merit Badge booklet that has some decent info in it, but there is also a few bits of misinformation about types of cuts, and terminology. Try the local Scout Office for these pamphlets or oder direct from the Scout Supply Office......
http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/...32MBP2^8^05NDC&#

I almost hate to recommend this pamphlet because of the cover photo and some of the photos inside that show carving without the proper protective gloves and pushing gouges with one hand in front of the blade, etc. I've contacted the Scout Office about this several times in the past but to no avail........maybe if one of our professional carvers would shake their cage they would clean up their act. In spite of this there are some good ideas in there.

Al

[gene messer]

Nate .. you sound like your on the way with some good tools .. flexcut are good beginners tools ...

May I recommend a wonderful little book you can probably find on e bay that I started out with using only a knife with simple and great little projects ..

It's called simply "Whittling " by Bill Higginbotham and it is a great little book for beginners from simple projects to harder ones ...

Thanks Nate

Gene

[Donna_T]

Hi Nate,
I agree with Gene...that little book has some great projects for beginners. I go back to it when I want a simple but not fragile carving for one of the little grandkids. I just did a horse out of it this summer, but have tried a dozen or so of the projects shown in it.

Rick Butz also has an all-around good book for beginners that will take you through intermediate level.

When our club starts a class for new carvers we have them do an "S" shaped worm (to teach them grain and always carving from the top down and rounding), a stylized letter opener, a relief dogwood flower, a howling SW style dog, and then finish with a hillbilly (Rufus --Enlow style).

There's some great beginner patterns in each issue of Wood Carving Illustrated and many show step by step instructions. That's a big help.

Just keep trying something different. That's how you'll improve.

Donna T