Diving in at the deep end - rocking horse

[LukeLHD]

Hi. You'll need to bare with me as I've done a foolish thing and gone for quite a big carving project with not much knowledge and I'm in need of some help.

I've been designing a small rocking horse as a gift for a friend. It's around the size of a man's hand. I've sawed the 2D outline of the horse out of the wood and realize I need some help on where to go next to shape it into 3D. I looked into wood carving and hoped someone might be able to answer a few questions…

-- Can anyone tell me what the absolute essential tools I would need to do a 'good' job on shaping out the horse should be? This probably sounds like I'm aiming low, but I don't intend to do a 'perfect' job - mainly because I know that would take months of practice, so I don't look to buy tools too advanced - but if I'm looking to shoot somewhere in-between looking vaguely like a horse and professional, what tools should I obtain for the job?

-- I've cut the horse from some really hard wood. It's because I'm helping in building a house and took a bit of an offcut from a beam to cut it out. After some research I found this probably wasn't the best wood as it's very hard and likely difficult to carve on. I wanted the horse to be made from strong wood and not soft, but would I get a better result if I looked at starting over with an entirely different kind of wood? Maybe oak or something else? Or would I be able to continue with what I have?
(Sorry I can't be more specific on the kind of wood, but I know it came from Sweden.)


I would be very grateful if anyone can offer any advice.

[AlArchie]

Luke, the "essential" tools for a carving may be as simple as a good quality knife. I don't mean to sound flippant with this answer, but for a small projectlike that, a knife may just be the answer. That said, check one of Rick Ferry's beginners kits at Little Shavers Wood Carving Supply

I wouldn't recommend a wood such as oak to begin with....try finding a nice piece of basswood somewhwere, or if you intend on having a carving showing nice grain and still have a nice carving wood, try to find some butternut....a pretty wood that's still easy to carve.

Most of the "hardwoods" and other hard woods will turn off a beginner. Best to work with a nice carving wood like bass or butter!

Al

[William]

You are right Luke, that's a difficult project, the wood and the story behind it would make the piece very unique but difficult to carve well.

Wood that hard usually requires mallet tools but if the carving is only 3"-6" that's a little small for a mallet, a power carver would likely be the best tool to shape the legs and do the detail on a wood that's harder than oak.

Good Luck with the project

Bill
^v^

[LukeLHD]

Thanks for the helpful replies Al and Bill.

I've been searching for butternut or basswood but can't find it easily in the UK. It seems lime wood might be a good equivalent so i'm trying to get ahold of that.

[William]

It may even be better than basswood, check out this discussion, it may help. Let us know if you find some.
Basswood ? Limewood? differece ?

Bill
^v^