# Incorporating Relief Carving into Other Wood



## cowboyup3371 (Nov 10, 2017)

Based on your advice, I am going to start practicing my relief and chip carving skills while waiting for my leg to heal with an eye to my future projects I have in mind. All of the reading I have done states Basswood is the easiest wood to start off with for a beginner. Additionally, some harder woods like Walnut and Oak can be done but are a bit troublesome.

With that in mind, how do most people incorporate a carving of any type into other woods they intend to use for a project. For example, if a clock I want to make consists primarily of curly red oak but I want to include a chip carving around the face as an accent, would I just set it as an inlay or could I safely try to carve the oak?

Please understand my question is not strictly based on oak although I used that as an example. I'm really looking to understand how the idea is incorporated with any wood - even those that may be very hard to carve specifically


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## DavePolaschek (Oct 21, 2016)

I'm just learning how to carve myself. Mostly relief carving. When I make a new project, I try to think of some carving that would be appropriate or which would dress it up. So far, my two examples are a box lid in mahogany and a carving in pine on the lid of another box - my advice is just give it a whirl. I would try to carve the oak, but then I learn a *lot* more from the ideas that don't quite work out than from the ones that do, so mine may not be the *easiest* path.

Looking at your projects, the lids of the jewelry boxes seem like something I would try a simple geometric carving on, maybe. The front of the nightstand, perhaps. Walnut isn't horrible to carve, I think. If you're worried about it going wrong, start on scraps or carve before you cut, so maybe the carving goes on the inside of the lid instead of the outside if you decide to hide it.

Good luck!


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