New Dremel User

[Morgana]

Smile Hi,

I am a beginner carver interested in carving wood spirits on bark and found wood. Due to trigger thumb I can't carve manually so have purchased a Dremel. Does anyone have a tutorial on how to carve with a Dremel? Would appreciate any help. Cheers.

[Claude]

Go to Amazon.com, enter the keywords "power carving", and you'll find 8-10 books that are primarily about powercarving; some are powercarving realistic critters, some about santas, so are about general stuff.

Claude

[Morgana]

Hi Claude,

Thanks very much for your info. Will see what's on offer. Had a look at your web site. I would be happy to be half as good a carver as you.
Being ex-armed forces (Australian) I was very interested in the insignia you carved. Mighty interested in having a go at that myself when I "graduate" from beginner!
Cheers

[squbrigg]

Welcome aboard Morgana. Power carving is great, you'll get the hang of it in no time, just practice. Try lots of different woods, and gather yourself a good selection of carbide burrs.......coarse, medium and fine, a set of diamonds and some sanding drums. Depending on what you like to carve , you can go for stone burrs (brown, white, blue) and all kinds of other cutters and burrs.

Bob

[fishcarver]

Hay Dremel user, good way to go, strated there myself than later graduated to fordom and now teacha dn sell with them, have tutoral on my website, afraid it didn't come out as good as i wanted and going to change it but don't be afraid to write me an email or call with questions, love this stuff and equally love sharing it, i almost always carve with power these days and have a portable classroom for 8, will be doing a fish class in Pasco, Wa first of August about 6 hours from me, bye....

[Donna_T]

Welcome Morgana,
The first thing I'd recommend is that you get a great dust mask and wear it faithfully when using your power carver. If you can't get a dust catcher, set an electric fan to blow at you to blow more of the dust away from you. Wood dust is very harmful to your lungs and even your eyes and nose...so even though it is a great, fun, fast way to carve, it can be dangerous to breathe the sawdust.

Getting a flexshaft for your Dremmel and hanging it near where you'll carve will greatly help your power carving efforts. Use the Dremmel to help you move the bulk of the wood you need to get to the carving you want. Good luck and let us know how you progress. You'll quickly find you'll need a dozen different bits.

Donna T

[Morgana]

Hi Donna T,

Thanks for the tips. Yeah, I have been thinking about getting an extension. Dust mask is all sorted but didn't think about fan.
How long have you been carving and what's your style? Always nice to talk to a fellow carvette!!
Cheers
Morgana

[gdr2004]

Hey fellow dremmel newbie! I recently picked up a Dremmel 400XPR kit that came with a bunch of bits and even the flexshaft for arond 80 bucks at Walmart!

You may also consider a protective glove. I've been having some trouble with the dremmel kick especially when trying to go against the grain.

[Morgana]

Hi gdr2004

Thanks for tip. Picked up kit for $135.00 Australian Dollars but no flexshaft. I can buy one for about $40.00AUD - about $20.00 US.
Already have the gloves and I know what you mean by the kick! Anybody having trouble with tendons in their fingers (trigger finger or thumb) from carving or power carving, I recommend a finger or thumb splint that you can buy from the chemist (US Pharmacy?).
Cheers
Morgana