Hello everyone. I was just wondering if someone could help me out a little bit here. I've never done anything with woodcarving before, for one thing, so I thought I might ask some experts.

My girlfriend and I were fooling around one day, and I told her that I was going to carve her a ring. She said if I did she'd wear it, thinking I wouldn't. Well, I'm planning on doing it. The only problem is, I have no idea what kind of wood to use, how to carve it, or how to protect it from getting destroyed two months after I make it. :-/ Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
- Milk

: A ring huh? First I would suggest you forget it; with that said, there are a couple important things to consider.
You must be certain that the wood you use does not cause an allergic reaction or worse. :P :-[ :P
I say that because it is natural to want to use an exotic wood for jewelry.
Carving isn't the best way to make a ring; you would be better off using a lathe. Then decorate the outside with some light carving.

If I were making a gift for a woman, I would try a love-spoon.
It won't get you in hot water; like a case of hives will.
If you are dead set on it, try alder or maple.

Hmmm... alright. Well, I didn't want to make anything fancy. I know for sure that I'm not any good at carving, at all. I just wanted to make something that looked something like a ring to give to her. I didn't know it would be such a bad thing to do. Thanks a lot though, I'll give it a try and see how it turns out. I guess I'll warn her when I give it to her... if it ever even gets that far.

Thanks a lot,
- Milk

[Callynne]

Â* Â* Hi Milk, welcome! Â*I read your post yesterday and thought...nope, nothing to suggest there, but after reading Rick's response about allergic reactions I thought of something. Â*A ring doesn't have to worn on the finger, you could carve here a pretty little ring and put it on a nice chain. Â*You wouldn't have to worry about the exact size, although close would be nice, you want her to know it was made just for her!
Â* Â* I think you could carve out a circle, drill a hole in the middle then carve out from there until you get the right size, then finish off carving the outside. Â*Just be careful, it might break pretty easily when you start getting it thinned down. Â*Another thing I do when I'm carving basswood into antlers for deer, when I'm all done I put super glue on them, really makes the wood stronger. Â*Just thoughts, play round with it, you might start a whole new fad! Â*
Â* Â* And most important, be careful, I'd suggest very strongly that you wear a carver's glove and a thumb guard, you're going to be working on something very small there.
Â* Â* Wow, for having nothing to say I've said a lot already! Â*Good luck, let us know how it goes! Â*Callynne

[Callynne]

Â* Â* Opps, hit the post button instead of the 'back' one, sorry for the typos, this time I actually caught them before I posted...well almost! Â*Guess I type like I talk, too fast!! Â* Callynne

Hi:, I made a ring out of purple heart, just for the heck of it. I cut a small slab about 1/4 thick,drilled a hole with a bit that was just a bit smaller than the size I wanted and sanded until it fit. then carved and shaped the outside until it was what I wanted.....no one wears it, just for the fun of it like I said! All good advice on here....I suggest if you want to carve, get some books and start with some basics...your girlfriend would probably really like a little caricature, or like was said above, a spoon....imho

[lorax]

I made one , when I was in high school, I spent alot of time on it . It was out of mahogany, and it cracked the first day I wore it. I was later told I should hve made it out of Ironwood. I wasnt willing to put that kind of effort into it so I never gave it a whirl. The first carved thing I ever gave my high school sweetheart was a carved rose, it was awful--carved from walnut with a dowel rod stem :P She still has it though, its in her keepsake box in our attic!

Yeah, Callynne, I was thinking a lot about that today and came to the same conclusion that you did. I'm probably just going to get a chain to put it on.

Also, I have a little less than a month to do this. I'm not sure what I'm doing, so I plan to experiment a bit. How much would all of this cost, (assuming I have a drill to drill the hole) and where would I get some of this stuff? (the wood, mainly) There are a few hobbie stores around here, but I'm not sure if they sell chunks of wood for me to buy.

On a side note, I've been looking into a hobbie, and this looks like something that I'd have a lot of fun with. Although I must say, I'm not very artistic, and I would probably just make things to burn in my fireplace. :-/

Hey Milk,
I was thinking back about 30 years and remembered carving a ring. It wasn't wood; it was made from a deer antler. What you do is slice off pieces of antler until you have one about the right size. Hollow it out; which isn't too hard, the inside is softer than the outside. Smooth the outside, polish the inside and outside; then if you like you can add scrimsaw to the outside. They turn out very well and look like ivory.

Ok, I'm gonna jump in with my 2-cents...an easy way to get the wood is start with a dowel. You can get them made of oak or birch and could just slice off a 'ring', hollow it out, detail carve the outside, and if you screw it up in the process just slice off another piece until you get what you want. You can get dowels in tons of sizes up to 1' easily and they are pretty cheap. And like you've already heard and will hear if you continue as a carver, first thing to buy is a glove.

Good luck,
Brian