# How to start carving wood? what tools are necessary for that?



## mike1981

what things i should consider before carving a wood. I need details guidelines.


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## hairy

Lots of good info here

https://forum.woodcarvingillustrated.com/forum/woodcarving-illustrated/woodcarving/wood-carving-for-beginners


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## a1Jim

That lady has an online school how to carve.

https://www.marymaycarving.com/carvingschool/


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## a1Jim

BTW
Welcome to LJs


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## rwe2156

Do some research on Google and watch a few YouTube videos.

There are several different kinds of carving (mallet or relief, chip carving, whittling).

Once you determine what you want to do, you will need to research tools, vices, benches and sharpening accessories.

For mallet carving I recommend Chris Pye and Mary May. I think Christ Pye has an excellent tutorial on sharpening. I took a class with Mary May & if the opportunity arises I highly recommend it.

I do some chip carving and really like it. I find it quite relaxing in spite of the detail. For chip carving I would check out Wayne Barton (chipcarving.com) and Marty Leenhous (mychipcarving.com)


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## CharlesNeil

Mary May on line + 10


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## mike02130

Chip carving, swedish carving, totem poles…....?


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## natdobs

I would suggest using basswood as a first time carver, I still use it regardless. Here's an article for the best wood for carving with.

As for whittling knives and other tools, mora has a decent selection of reliable wood carving knives that you can choose from!


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## Dark_Lightning

> what things i should consider before carving a wood. I need details guidelines.
> 
> - abdullah58


Go to YouTube and click around. You'll spend many hours there, and will see all the tools and woods used and learn a lot about it. Eventually you'll see something you like. NOTE! They make it look easy and fast. Believe me, that part is NOT TRUE! 8^D


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## GR8HUNTER

she carves little guys :<))


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## ClaudeF

If you decide to start carving small caricatures (figures) in the round, here are two great sources of videos:

http://blog.mischel.com/gene-messers-carving-videos/

http://blog.mischel.com/arlene-carverswoodshop-carving-videos/

For relief carving and chip carving instructions, also some free patterns and tutorials, this is a good site: https://www.lsirish.com/tutorials/woodcarving-tutorials/

For architectural carvings and sculpture, here's another great site: http://woodcarvingblog.wordpress.com/


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