Carve and paint this great holiday gift in a weekend By Phil Bishop This great topper can be customized for a variety of uses. Reduce the pattern to make a bottle stopper—the perfect gift for wine enthusiasts. Because of their size, cane toppers make great weekend projects. The small investments […]
Introducing 50,000 boys a year to the joys of carving through the merit badge program More than 1,000 Scouts, ages 12 to 17 took a three-hour class in the basics of wood carving at the 2005 National Scout Jamboree’s “Merit Badge Midway.” The Jamboree was held in Caroline County, VA. […]
Simple tools and materials can produce great results By Lavonne Russell I purchased Woodcarving Illustrated Spring 2005 (Issue 30) on a whim—without any carving experience and no tools. What was I doing with a woodcarving magazine? But something about the bearded figure on the cover caught my eye. He looked like […]
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 […]
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 […]
Amazing details in miniature carvings By Bob Shamey I love to carve virtually anything, but the palette for my work that I love the most is cherry pits. I love to eat cherries to get at the pit; I then continue to suck on the pits to get them completely […]
This easy-to-make shop aid is a great way to keep your gouges and V-tools in tip-top shape By Lora S. Irish With just a few minutes of work, you can create this honing board customized to sharpen your specific gouges and V-tools. This honing board is small enough to include […]
Easy-to-carve critters are delightfully mobile By Desiree Hajny These lovable critters are a great way to introduce others to carving. They make great conversation starters. People can’t resist picking them up once they see them rolling down the table. They’re surprisingly easy to carve and after you get a feel […]
You don’t need lots of tools to carve a masterpiece; I have carved a wide variety of things with just a pocketknife—including a variety of chains!
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 […]
