Article Tag

wood carving techniques

Every in-depth guide tagged wood carving techniques.

October 2, 2024

Do I need to be good at drawing if I want to wood carve and sculpt?

A flat sheet cannot show what a form does when it turns away from you. After forty years I still model in clay first, even for one acanthus leaf, and then I turn the panel sideways to see whether it reads as a full round.

How can I improve my wood carving technique?

In-Depth

September 6, 2024

How can I improve my wood carving technique?

My teacher gave me paper before he gave me a gouge, and he had one answer for every complaint about wood. Here is his order, and the one thing about basswood I still cannot explain.

In-Depth

August 30, 2024

What does low density wood mean?

Light wood is not weak wood, and softness is not why I carve basswood almost every day. Here are the real numbers, and one puzzle from my bench I still cannot explain.

In-Depth

August 28, 2024

What does wood shrinkage mean?

Every other number on a wood chart decides what happens while you carve. This one decides what happens for the next hundred years, and I have a gouge whose ring went loose on its own to prove it.

What does the crushing strength of wood mean?

In-Depth

August 28, 2024

What does the crushing strength of wood mean?

I lost petal rims to this for years and blamed the wood. Here are the real crushing numbers, and the bench test that finally stopped it.