How to Wood Carve for Beginners

Woodcarving is a great art that’s popular all over the world. Not only does it allow you to make attractive decoration pieces but it also helps you improve your creativity.

The best thing about woodcarving is that anyone can learn it. You only need to use the right tools and carving techniques to start your woodcarving journey.

In this article, I’ll discuss a step-by-step guide to help beginners start their first wood carving project.

How to Wood Carve for Beginners

Whether you want to start wood carving as a hobby or are seeking to make it your profession, use the following steps to understand how it’s done.

Step 1: Set Up Working Area

The first step is to set up your working area which includes a workbench placed on a stable surface. Choose a well-lit area that’s free of all distractions so that you can easily see and concentrate on the workpiece you’re carving.

Step 2: Choose Wood Type

After setting up your workbench, you need to choose the most suitable wood for carving.

The following table contains the best wood types along with their qualities. I have also rated each type out of 5 where a high rating indicates a high wood quality for carving.

Step 3: Choose Wood Carving Tools

There are several tools that you should have in your woodcarving toolkit. The choice of the tools depends on the object or item you want to carve. For example, if you’re planning to carve a simple cup, bowl, or spoon, using only a hook knife will be sufficient.

However, if you want to carve a complicated design, such as the face of an animal, you’ll need to use different types of tools. The following are the basic wood carving tools that you need for your first project.

Chisels

Woodcarving chisels come with a straight edge that you can use to create different shapes. They’re mainly used for chip carving to remove small chips from the wood surface. You can also use chisels for relief carving in which you carve different shapes on a flat wood panel.

There are two different types of chisels that you can use:

• Fishtail Chisels: These chisels are used to make deeper cuts and they have a shape that looks like a fishtail.
• Skew Chisel: These chisels have a blade angle of 45 degrees and are commonly used to make dovetail cuts.

Gouges

Gouges are the most important wood carving tools for beginners. They’re just like chisels but with curvatures and allow you to make different shapes and cuts on wood. You can push them with your palm and remove wood slices easily. The following types of gauges are available in the market that you can use for wood carving.

• Bend and Spoon Gouges: They allow you to carve wood with bends in left, right, front, and back directions. You can also use them to hollow out spoons and bowls.
• V Gouges: These gouges come with V-shaped tips to make “V” grooves.
• U-Gouges: These gouges have curved cutting edges to make U-shaped grooves.

Chip Carving Knives

Chip carving knives are specially designed tools for woodcarving and they come with fixed blades and long handles. They are mainly used for whittling, cutting, and shaping a wood piece, and allow you to achieve fine details.

Power Tools

Power tools allow you to carve wood without putting in a manual effort. You only need to guide these tools on the surface to carve wood. For example, you can use an electric wood chisel, rotary tools, and a chainsaw for wood carving.

Perhaps my favorite power tool for carving is an angle grinder. This tool is much more forgiving than other power tools, but still very efficient and easy to use.

Keep in mind that these tools are expensive and you don’t necessarily need to use them for your first wood carving project. I recommend you go with cheap manual tools to understand the basics of woodcarving before moving to power tools.

Read my review on the top wood carving chainsaw to learn more.

Rasps and Files

A rasp or a file is used to add finer details to your workpiece once the rough work is done. These tools allow you to sand the wood to achieve a smooth and clean finish.

Step 4: Select and Draw Design

Now, you’ll need to choose the design that you need to carve on your workpiece. You can easily find tons of beautiful wood carving designs on the internet.

However, I recommend you choose an easy and simple design for your first wood carving project so that you can easily apply basic techniques.

Once you have selected the design, use a pencil/stylus and carbon paper to draw it on the workpiece. Be patient while drawing the outline of the design because every stroke will be translated into the final result.

Step 5: Ensure Safety

It’s important to ensure safety before starting the woodcarving process to avoid injuries. Wear safety goggles and leather gloves to protect your eyes and hands from small wood pieces and carving tools.

You should also wear a dust mask to avoid breathing in the dust that the carving process will generate.

Step 6: Cut Outline

Use a chip carving knife to cut the outline by shaving off thin layers of wood. You can also use a chisel for the same purpose but a carving knife will provide you with better control to cut the outline with precision.

Step 7: Add Details

Adding details is the most critical step of the entire process and you need to be patient to complete it effectively. You’ll need to use different tools to make different cuts and grooves depending on the design you selected.

For example, you can start the process by digging into the contours of the drawn design with a gouge. Then you can use a chisel to give depth to the contours that you have made. If you need to round sharp edges with irregularities, consider using a u-shaped gouge.

You’ll need to use a gouge with a narrow blade for thin parts and vice versa. Make sure that you don’t apply too much pressure while adding details because it can ruin your workpiece.

In addition, you need to move your tool along the direction of the grain. Not only will it keep the wood from damaging but it’ll also make the carving process easier. You can also print out your selected design to use it as a reference while adding details.

Step 8: Smooth Out

After carving the main design with details, use a brush to get rid of small wood particles stuck into the grooves and crevices. 

Then pick up a rasp or file to smooth out your finished pieces. 

You can also use sandpaper for the same purpose. If you want to go one step further, consider applying paint and UV-resistant topcoat to your finished piece to give it an even more attractive look. 

FAQs

Final Words

Wood carving is a popular form of art that anyone can learn. Make sure that you use the right tools, wood type, and carving method to kick start your woodcarving journey. I hope this guide will help you understand the right method to carry out your first wood carving project effectively.