What should I carve as a beginner?
What is a good carving project for a beginner?-Basic Carvings for Beginners

If I were a beginner, what would be the best carving to do?
Wood carving isn't difficult to get into.
Each summer, I stayed with my grandparents in a small Russian village by the Volga river. I remember when I was six. I snuck inside my grandfather's workshop, and I found one woodworking chisel. I didn't know what the tool was, but I knew it had a sharp edge and I could probably cut something with it. To cut a long story short, it was the beginning of my carving journey. I didn't carve wood that day. I found a white brick and began to chisel away. I really didn't have any idea what I was carving. I just liked the process. By the end of the day, I could identify a human face in that brick. I don't remember if I felt joy or frustration, but I know now it was the beginning of my lifelong journey as a carver.
Later, I tried wood and liked it much more than brick. I made up my mind. I will carve wood instead of brick!
I didn't understand anything about wood types or carving styles. How do chip carving and relief carving differ? All those fancy words made little sense to me. I wasn't familiar with the basics of wood carving.
I was very lucky with both sides of my family. My grandpa had a small shop and a few workbenches, and I could spend time with him and see how he worked. For him, his shop was a “hiding place” from his wife, my grandma. But she knew where to find him.On my father's side, the family has a rich history of fine woodworkers and furniture makers. One of my great-grandfathers was a craftsman for a royal house in Saint Petersburg, Russia.My Granny shared memories of her childhood in her dad's woodworking shop.
She recalled her father singing songs. He sang songs while working with wood.I got my first chisel from my grandfather, and my first whittling knife from my grandmother. It wasn't really a whittling knife; it was a pocket knife from the USSR. Pocket knives work well for basic carving. Those two tools were my carving tools. I didn't have a gouge or any power tools. Not even a proper chip carving knife. A simple pocket knife is enough to make something beautiful.
Back then, I didn't know woodcarving would be so significant in my life. Today, I carve for collectors around the globe and private homes. I didn't realize woodcarving could be so rewarding.
What is a good carving project for a beginner?
What is a good carving project for a beginner?
Consider what you prefer: a spoon or relief carvings. New carvers often don't realize the huge difference between carving a wooden spoon and carving a 3D sculpture with a gouge and a mallet. This is also known as carving in the round.
Nature itself runs on the continuous interaction of opposites—earth and fire, sun and moon, male and female, dark and light.
(Based on Robert Greene, Mastery)
Join School of Wood Carving
I'm starting my first carving project. What should I do?
Think about another key question. What carving style appeals to me? But this is not the only question you have to ask yourself. Another question to ask is: what tools are at your disposal? Do you own basic wood carving tools or just a knife? Some people only have a chainsaw :). You can do a chainsaw carving but with a chainsaw, you can't carve a spoon.
I advise experimenting with various carving styles. Again, what hand tools do you have? If you only have a chip carving knife, spoon carving is out, but you can still carve other things.
Dopamine operates like transmission fluid: if there’s a shortage, as with ADHD, attention shifting is difficult or jumps right to high gear.
(John J. Ratey and Eric Hagerman, Spark)
Dopamine in woodcarving is like oil for your carving tools: if there’s not enough, just like people with ADHD, your focus can either freeze or suddenly become very intense.
WOODCARVING – What is a good carving project for a beginner?-Basic Carvings for Beginners
Here is a List of some ideas:
- Crafting wooden spoons
- Old European Knife Carving
- Relief Carving
- Carving in the round
- Bird and Fish Carving
