wood carving advice?

[4D_scumpunx]

Hi all I am wondering if any of you could give me a few tips on wood carving and the best wood to use for a beginner.
I have just ordered these to start practising with.. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....243957&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_2395wt_989
is there any other tools that will come in handy to have around that are cheap in cost?
Dont have a work shed and my house is appart of a shared garden to sadly having to keep it to indoors in the bedroom.

any info wood help
best wood
where to get cheap wood
tools
links
photos of your projects for inspiration


many thanks
fordy

 

[MartiniDave]

You'll find the Frost 106 is a good wood carving knife for about a tenner, which is hard to beat at any price. Add a frost hook knife, which will need a bit of sharpening work out of the box, but can be made very useable. Pretty much any bit of wood is good for practicing and working up the skills. I've had good service buying from http://www.woodsmithstore.co.uk/shop/, no connection just a happy customer.
A quick search on here should give you plenty of photos and inspiration.
Its a great hobby, enjoy.

Dave

 

[DaveBromley]

Lime and Birch the two that ive used so far allthough not with much success. Oh well practice makes perfect lol

Could do with a carving blade ideally lets see what santa brings!

Dave

 

[Muddypaws]

Try to befriend someone from your local authority's parks department or tree works gang to get free wood. One of the softest is willow, making it ideal for beginners.

 

[Colin.W]

I had a good supply of ash from a fallen tree which I found quite easy to work to practice. A fair bit of shrinkage when drying so it's best to dry it out a bit before you start

 

[Buckshot]

Those chiesels will be fine for chip carving I would think but something to slice would be good too as Dave says

Don't try to take too much off at once.
When I start to get impatient I sit back and calm down. The journey is as good as getting there so enjoy the process

Oh and have fun

Mark

 

[woodspirits]

hiya fordy those chisels will be fine to start with, but dont expect them to last forever! as you get more profficient take a look at the 'flexcut' range of carving gouges on the web. as martini says almost any kind of wood will carve or just take a look at your local hedgerows i often use a twig the size of my little finger for a 'quick fix' see examples below.
oh and dont forget to protect your hand, a kevlar or at least a thick hide glove! have fun

[/QUOTE]

 

[Sawyer]

wow, woodspirits. Thos wee fellas are amazing. Any tips?

 

[woodspirits]

hi sawyer
use your imagination and just keep whittling away! for inspiration take a look at the work by tom wolfe, chris pye or my favorite, jeff phares truly gifted carvers.
i cant think of anything nicer than sitting by your fire in the woods and carving those little fellas out, they become a reminder of my stay. and all the free materials to hand too!

 

[Sawyer]

Thanks woodspirits

 

[4D_scumpunx]

hiya fordy those chisels will be fine to start with, but dont expect them to last forever! as you get more profficient take a look at the 'flexcut' range of carving gouges on the web. as martini says almost any kind of wood will carve or just take a look at your local hedgerows i often use a twig the size of my little finger for a 'quick fix' see examples below.
oh and dont forget to protect your hand, a kevlar or at least a thick hide glove! have fun

[/QUOTE]

yeh i am looking to start of doing basic carving to get the hang of it, but will take time on anything i do.
these tools will just be my beginners set untill i get a bit of money and start to collect some better tools.

ps. them carvings you have done are really good. i love them

 

[4D_scumpunx]

just thought if show you some of my mate tom's pieces that he has done
he does chainsaw carvings. one of the reasons i have begone to want to start carving is from seeing his work

http://www.youtube.com/user/themattin

 

[merrygold85]

Hi all,

Those wood spirits are pretty sweet.

I just finished my first carving, using just a knife and posted it here: http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65054 and I was wondering if there was a single best all-round chisel gouge to accompany my knife. I found it quite difficult to use only the knife and think I would rather also have a single versatile tool, than a whole set and not use half of them.

Apologies if I have high-jacked the thread. I thought 4D_scumpunx would be interested.

Cheers

Mark

 

[xylaria]

holly is a good wood, very nice and soft, consistant grain as well.

I have an assortment of tools. Mainly I use a frost mora, a gouge chisel, a vainer, and a flex cut pelcan. The sharping stone I use is the japense wetshone from axminster tools and some cheap diamond flat ones from lidl. I have seen similar for about a tenner on line, they are in sets of three and are backed with coloured plastic.

Dont buy sets, you wont use most of them. Buy one tool at a time, you can learn to carve with just a knife and it doesn't need to cost it just needs to be sharp. Moras and flexcuts are good, but I cant get on with their spoon knives personally. Carving is like fishing, you see lots of kit when you just need very simple things.

 

[cruben]

You will find those chisles good for fine detail but they usualy come roughly ground and will need sharpened and polished so they will cut the wood instead of tearing it. Try a few different grades of wet and dry sandpaper from 80 to 400.Just use them as they are no water needed, you can fold them to make a smaller sheet size or roll them for the inside of the gouges but be careful to keep it flat with the chisle on the inside of the gouge and not to sand a bevel on the inside.
Good luck

 

[4D_scumpunx]

well, started messing around with the chissels i got.
i advise people not to buy them,
there blunt, if not blunt they are bent out of shape and look like somebody has tried to chissel rock with them,
2 of them have allmost already snapped off.

 

[Indoorsout]

Have a look at the Flexcut range, I use them and they are very good. They come fully sharp and hold an edge extremely well.