Shop Tips

Carver’s Lapboard

Carver’s Lapboard

By Charles Brown With this lapboard, you can carve mess-free anywhere—You can take your carving out of the basement and carve in the comforts of your easy chair. Flip it over, and it becomes a handy portable writing table. The dimensions of the lapboard depend on a couple factors; I […]

by February 2, 2010 Shop Tips
Shop-Made Holding Devices

Shop-Made Holding Devices

Inexpensive methods for holding irregularly-shaped carvings By Roger Schroeder Carvers tend to be innovative—and with the odd shapes that carvings can take on, many commercial holding devices just won’t work. That is why carvers design, or adapt, their own holding devices. The variety of designs is endless, but most can […]

by February 1, 2010 Shop Tips
All About Buying Wood

All About Buying Wood

A handy reference guide and inside tips from 30 years of buying carving wood By Roger Schroeder Buying wood—be it pine, basswood, or something exotic like rosewood—can leave you scratching your head wondering about the mathematics and vocabulary. When I first started purchasing wood, I fell in love with a […]

by January 29, 2010 Shop Tips

Top Ten Underrated Uses for Carving Tools

Tongue-in-cheek take on common carving tools and materials By Bob Duncan #1  CA glue: To glue your thumb to the piece of wood you are trying to replace back to the carving. Also serves to glue cut skin back together and glue your thumb to the cut. #2  Bandaids: To […]

by January 25, 2010 Shop Tips
Cleaning Your Brushes

Cleaning Your Brushes

When using your brushes, NEVER walk away and leave paint in the brush. It’s a good habit to rinse a brush before you lay it down, even if only for a moment. Brush Care Do not reuse the plastic tube used on new brushes; this may bend the bristles beyond […]

by January 24, 2010 Shop Tips
Files, Rasps, and Rifflers

Files, Rasps, and Rifflers

These versatile tools have a wide range of carving uses By Roger Schroeder While purists will argue that files, rasps and rifflers, not to mention sandpaper, should never touch a wood carving, don’t sell these tools short. Many projects need a smooth surface, not a flat-plane or faceted one. These […]

by January 24, 2010 Shop Tips