Wood Spirits! 3d! Imax!

[CountryPine]

Hello again, here is where I am at. I carved a big ole hunk of wood with my handy dandy chisel and hammer trying to work out a woodspirit. This is my first ever attempt mind you at a wood spirit. Let me just say that it turned out alright, but it just wasn't a woodspirit. Anyways, can anyone link or help me out with this with a simple explanation or step by step picture process?

And also I don;t know if this is the right place to post this but I am going to be going somewhere in a few months and be gone a while. I would like to get a set of carving tools that would work for carving walkingsticks and woodspirits. Can someone link me to a tool kit that is cheap and effective. Especially if I'm working with hardwood.

Thanks everyone!

[Facecarver]

The best I can suggest is Tom Wolf's books on Wood Spirits and walking sticks. I have used them before and find his books great.

[mateo]

These uns ll do the job. Wood Carvers Supply, Inc.

I think the 10 piece set would be more than enough. They cost twice as much to buy them separate. That's the "made in China", mass production, world we live in. They wont be perfect, but they function.
I thought you had posted a picture of your carving, ah well maybe next time.

[Magicman]

Countrypine

If you go on to YOUTUBE and watch some of the videos of woodspirits it might help your carving a woodspirits. Type in woodcarving woodspirits and watch for a video with a yellow carving vise in it, I think it would help you. As said above the Tom Wolfe books are good. As for tools all you really need is a knife, small gauge, and a v tool. as for working in Hardwood it would depend on the type of wood for what tools you need.
Larry

[Just Carving]

If you're looking to carve wood spirits in sticks or canes, here's a link to a previous post of mine. It's self explanatory:

How to Carve a Woodspirit in a Hiking Stick by Skylar Johnson

Now if you're looking to carve wood spirits in trees or something larger than hiking sticks, it'll be the same idea but you'll need larger tools--somewhere in the 3/4" to 1" range with maybe a 1/2" tool for the detail. You'll need a couple of shallow gouges--one wide, and maybe one half as wide, and a v-tool. You could also benefit by having one large gouge for fast removal of wood, and maybe a u-tool might be helpful.

It really depends on your style too. If you think you could carve a wood spirit just by using flat chisels, go for it. Just get several in different widths. BTW--I'm assuming your handy dandy chisel was super duper sharp, i.e. you're able to slice a shaving through the grain off the end of a board. If you can't, learn to sharpen first. Then work with the chisel you have. If you still think you want to buy more tools, then read on.

The more tools you have, the more options you'll have, too. But that also means more spending, and more tools to take care of, i.e. hone, sharpen, etc.

I would refrain from buying a starter set. You might start by buying a shallow and/or medium gouge--i.e. a #3 or a #5 and/or a #7 or a #9 at the same width as the chisel you used. If you found the chisel too wide to carve width, then get a smaller width shalow gouge to start width.

You'll be surprised at what you can do with one tool. A lot of carvers find themselves working primarily with one tool and supplement with a few other tools only when the "favorite" just won't fit--either width wise or depth.

Hope this helps.

Bob L

[mateo]

Originally Posted by Just Carving

The more tools you have, the more options you'll have, too. But that also means more spending, and more tools to take care of, i.e. hone, sharpen, etc.



You'll be surprised at what you can do with one tool.

Bob L

Amen Bob. I agree with everything said, but especially these little nuggets of truth. I think I could get by with my trusty skew chisel for most carving. A lot of talented stick carvers use only a knife.

[Just Carving]

A lot of talented stick carvers use only a knife.

Mateo

I was carving this pencil wood spirit while you were posting--took about 2-1/2 hours.

Talented? Not sure.

Using only a knife--for sure.

Used my trusty Case XX Mini Blackhorn of which I modified the spear-point blade to a Wharncliffe blade.

W.R. Case Small Lockback Mini Blackhorn Knife

Bob L

[mateo]

Geez Bob, you are the master of miniature. I thought some of my carvings were small, but i must bow to the true master of mini. I feel like we've veered of topic a bit but come check out my effort today at using only one tool.Another tagua frog

[Just Carving]

Thanks Mateo! I think there are people who do a better job on smaller miniatures than I. I liked your tagua frog.

Bob L