How-To: Woodcarving

brepettis

Story by brepettis

Published on July 14, 2008 in Make

Photo by nostalgiccorner

Woodcarving is very satisfying. Back in the 90s I made puppets out of wood; I would rough them out on the bandsaw and then sit on the porch and whittle the days away. YouTube’s whittler0507 breaks it on down. He’s actually got over 100 videos about woodcarving, which is very impressive! Watch a few and you’ll be good at woodcarving in no time!


You can get started with a few tools, a nice blade and a V-shaped gouge. You can carve any type of wood, but I’d suggest getting some nice carving material, such as basswood. Once you get started, you may eventually set up with a bandsaw and more tools, but it’s great to start simple.

If you’ve got any woodcarving tips, leave a note in the comments!

Check out our past How-To videos!

Discuss: 8 comments

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  • VanessaAdmin

    Vanessa says:

    Wish I knew how to whittle. Seems like a soothing thing to work on.

    3 years ago

  • niceisdifferent

    niceisdifferent says:

    i've always wanted to learn how to wood carve. thanks for the link to the videos!

    3 years ago

  • BoutiqueCandle

    BoutiqueCandle says:

    I remember making a few whittled projects in my elementary school wood shop class and just loving it. I look forward to checking out these videos.

    3 years ago

  • elloh

    elloh says:

    I have my great grandfather's woodcarving tools. I've sadly only used them with clay so far. I'll have to try them out on basswood. Over 100 videos! That's dedication.

    3 years ago

  • risingphoenixtoys

    risingphoenixtoys says:

    Thanks for sharing! I've looked for videos like this before and somehow couldn't find them. I love whittler0507's personality.

    3 years ago

  • carverswoodshop

    carverswoodshop says:

    if you ever wanted to carve a santa,or a snowman come to my site on youtube, its www.youtube.com/carverswoodshop or come to my website www.carverswoodshop.com i new to etsy, and will post some of my hand carved santas and birds soon, thanks

    3 years ago

  • blah808

    blah808 says:

    OOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! i have an exact same pencil!!! yeah!!!

    1 year ago

  • akersartsandcrafts

    akersartsandcrafts from akersartsandcrafts says:

    I have watched several of Genes videos on youtube and he has been an inspiration to a lot of the stuff I make. Here Is my blog, check it out! www.akersoftoons.blogspot.com I have been really working on the caricature carving and I think it is shaping up!

    86 days ago