Posted on by Maura

Woodcarving Tips

  • Strop often, sharpen less
  • A good tool becomes an extension of your arm.  
  • Keep your tools well and they will keep you well
  • Find cheap tools at estate sales
  • Attend a carving show.  You will be inspired
  • Always bring wood into your shop at least two weeks before you plan to use it.  It needs to acclimate to the humidity.
  • Keep your tools well and they will keep you well
  • Anybody will buy anything if you make them think they need it
  •  It is much easier to carve using two hands and hold down devices
  • Sawdust in the air can, combined with a flame or spark, can cause an explosion.
  • Use a sharp straight edge of broken glass to clean up a carving.
  • There are no mistakes in woodcarving, only new design possibilities.
  • Gouges can be used upside down.
  • You can sharpen your tools with various grades of sandpaper.
  • You can put wood into a microwave to dry it or to kill bugs in it
  • Never carve when you are impaired or tired.
  • Don’t carve after sanding, the grit will dull your tool
  • A good tool is worth the price you pay for it.
  • Carve away from yourself.
  • Crumpled up brown paper bags can be used for fine sanding
  • Bad tools don’t get used
  • Crazy glue can be used to glue cuts closed.    
  • Boil a cypress knee and the warm bark will peel off
  • A chisel is not a pry bar.
  • The width of one eye is equal to the space between the eyes.
  • No matter how much wood you have, you won’t have the right size for your next project
  • Remove pencil marks with rubbing alcohol
  • If you price a carving too low it won’t sell
  • The most valuable lessons are learned from your worst mistakes.
  • Wood dust can explode if there is an open flame nearby
  • Use spar varnish on wood which will be displayed outside    
  • Do not use a mallet on palm tools
  • Agree on the price for a carving before you start it
  • Use a scraper to remove excess glue
  • Standard drying time for fresh-cut wood is 1 year to 1” of thickness.
  • The corners of the mouth line up with the centers of the eyes.
  • A high swivel chair with a back and footrest is the perfect carving chair.
  • There are cheap tools to be found at yard sales and estate sales
  • After cutting away the skin of a golf ball, use the excess skin for a paint cup.
  • Turn a problem area upside down and then try to carve it.
  • Wood dust can cause cancer and other diseases
  •  Always plan to demonstrate at any show you attend.  Those who demonstrate usually draw a crowd.
  •  Cover your workbench with inexpensive rubber mats.  Relief carvings will not move.
  •  Smaller pieces of wood can be glued together to make larger pieces of wood.
  • Most carvers have a variety of different woods stored away in their workshops and will pass a piece or two on to a new carver.
  • A V-tool actual has 3 separate blades.
  • Young children can carve soap but be careful, the chips are slippery.
  • If you have wet acrylic paint on a palette, put it in the freezer between painting sessions
  • You can make excellent woodcarvings with a single knife.
  • You can never use too many pictures for references.
  • A power saw can cut faster through flesh than wood.
  • Never stand in a direct line with a table saw blade.
  • Rubber bands can be used as clamps.
  • Use a v-tool for outlining, not using stop cuts will save lots of time and you will not crush the wood fibers.
  • Original carvings sell better than carbon copies.              
  •  Wood carves easier when “wet” but most likely will crack while drying.
  • .Thin cardboard can be used as a strop.
  • Shave the hair on your arm to test the sharpness of a tool.
  • Books are worth their weight in gold but a good carving video is better
  • When picking something thing up, you will knock over another, maybe even 2 or three.
  • The more costly a tool, the more likely it is to jump off your workbench.
  • A mixture of 50% rubbing alcohol and 50% water sprayed on wood will make it easier to carve.
  • Tools should be purchased as needed. 
  • Looking and acting like a professional will help make you one.
  • Tools can sense when you’re afraid of them.
  • The best way to learn is to do.
  • Wood contracts and expands with humidity.
  • Sell the right things at the right shows
  • Grinling Gibbons glued layers onto his carvings.
  • Let the customer be involved, update them on their carvings progress. Email them pictures in various states of completion.
  • You can soak a thin board in water, cover it with a wet towel and use a household iron to  remove any warping or cupping
  • Word of mouth is the best selling tool.
  •  You can burnish wood by using a rounded piece of hard wood to press into your carving.
  • Wood is dry when it has a 10% or less moisture level
  • Cuts usually happen reaching for tools.
  • Always get a deposit which will cover the costs of a commission carving.
  • Clean sandpaper using hard rubber
  • There is always more than one way to do something.
  • Slowing down wood drying time will lessen checking.