Whittle to Relax

You'd ask why is that?

The thing is, whittling wood is an exciting hobby during the lockdown. You take some wood in one hand and knife in the other and start going along the lines to create something beautiful.

You'd be surprised how easy wood carving is. You don't need some everlasting training or some expensive staff to start with.

Well, of course, there are some high-dollar tools as well as solid tools for a fair price and some cheaply made tools. Moreover, you can even start carving wood with a pocket knife. But make sure to jump to better tools afterward.

I started carving a long time ago. First I did some mushrooms out of wood, then fish was my favorite project to do. Sometimes I was carving without any original plan.

Wood carving is extremely relaxing

I always ended up with some kind of relief. Don't know why is that. Not all my whittling projects were looking great. But somehow I was always pleased with the result. Probably it could be because of the feeling I had after each project finished.

I was always getting a sense of accomplishment throughout my whole wood carving journey. Thanks to my teachers, wood, tools I had a pleasure to work with.

I mostly use BeaverCraft wood carving tools.

What's good about them?

- knives arrive sharp. So I don't need to hone them before I get to work.

- knives hold the edge which is extremely important as you don't want to spend any more time stropping the blades.

- the price tag doesn't bite. They are good to start with if you are tight on budget.

- once I had an issue with their long-handled hook knife, it snapped in 5 minutes of use. I messaged them not hoping to get the answer actually. But they did message me back and solved it for me. Great customer care.

Wood carving is useful for youngsters

I'm planning to teach my niece to carve wood as well. I believe it's very useful for youngsters to have some physical activities in addition to their 24/7 computer lifestyle.

Types of carving

Different people like different types of wood carving. If you're into some monotonous work, then chip carving would be the bet. Chip carving and geometric carving mostly contain tiny details which is why you should be extremely attentive to details.

Spoon carving could work for some pragmatic people willing to do everything on some purpose. So each action would be useful. Such people usually buy practical gifts, they don't buy anything on a whim. This is why you're going to enjoy the carving process and have a spoon or bowl or cup for your everyday use. Moreover, it's a good idea to make a kuksa for camping.

Caricature carving is a good idea for everyone. All we love fairytales, bright movies. Everybody has its favorite character either in the book or series. Why not make it out of wood then? It's fun. Moreover, you'll enjoy your favorite story again, either it's a gnome, wood spirit or a small man.

Woods for carving

There are a lot of kinds of wood. Mostly you're going to work with soft woods, as it's easier to work with. But still, there would be some projects requiring you to use a harder wood because of its color or structure. I started carving with basswood. And that was the right choice. Moreover, basswood is easy to color.

Is it a vocation?

Overall, I spent more than 10 years in carving. And I'm going to continue whittling. Who knows, maybe it's my vocation.