Beginning Carving

Well, a fellow blogger, John, over at http://woodworksbyjohn.com/ has inspired me to do something that’s been waiting outside of my comfort zone. He’s decided to teach himself carving using Chris Pye’s Online School as well as Mary May’s. After seeing the beautiful frames he’s been working away on, it was enough convincing for me.

I decided to set out and buy myself some lifetime tools. After much cost comparison, I decided on the Pfiel Carving tools from Feather Animation.

Within a week they arrived and were pretty much ready to use right out of the package. After a quick strop I was making chips. I also subscribed to Chris Pye’s Workshops and would definitely recommend it to anyone who doesn’t really know where to start. For me right now, I feel at best with some simple relief carving.

 

I cant wait to get started on my carving bench now. I have a rough design thrown together in sketchup. I have a plan to use Oak that I milled myself for the top and big beefy pine legs. More on that later. In the meantime, I have enough basswood 4″x4″ and 6″x6″ blanks to keep me busy for a bit, turning them eventually into box lids this spring. I still have lots to learn but it’s definitely something I can get into doing while relaxing at the camp this summer.

On another note, here’s a video I put together showcasing my shiny new tools as well as making my first carving mallet.

Cheers!