There's nothing quite like bringing a cicada out of a solid block of rosewood. Every stroke is a conversation between the chisel and the grain — the wood decides where it wants to break, and I just follow. This one took me a few evenings of slow, careful carving. The wings are the trickiest part; one wrong cut and you start over. From my small woodcarving studio. Hope you enjoy watching it come to life.

This is my last distaff, as I just don't feel that same spark anymore. I've been doing chip carving for about five years now, and while I've made some pieces that feel truly unique to me (especially the ones with foxes and lavender), I feel like a lot of my ideas are starting to repeat themselves. On top of that, finding the right basswood has become more difficult.

I still have some leftover pieces of wood, so maybe I'll carve a few spoons or make a small disk/plate with carving, but those will probably be smaller projects that might not be worth sharing.

I've posted quite a few of my projects here on this subreddit over the years, so I thought it would be nice to show you all the works that I still have with me. Looking back at them makes me appreciate how much I've learned and how far I've come.

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement over the years. It really means a lot to me.

Carved the top one while watching Lord of the Rings.
Not sure what my vision was with the second one :P

The place I knew to check was Woodcraft. They had a pretty big tub of it for I think $35. I don't do enough carving for that to be worth it. Beavercraft seems to make little tubs for seven bucks but the only place I've seen Beavercraft stuff in a brick and mortar store was....Woodcraft. Ideas? This is in Austin, if that helps.

p.s. I have a beeswax candle but it's awfully solid and I don't imagine there's a way to make it into a softer form I could use, right?

Finished my first 3 dimensional carving. Cant wait to finish the next.

Clearly not in terms of publications, but what do you think? Do you prefer sandy or raw? Furthermore, is it normal that it took me almost five hours?

Someone gave me a piece of advice to buy or make a woodcarving clamp for working on smaller pieces that are hard to hold by hand, so I made one, and it has been BEYOND helpful, it’s allowing me to work on very small pieces and awkward angles with ease!

I’m currently working on my first proper carving in years and it feels easier than I remember, will be posting progress pics soon!

Tupelo bird, cherry wood leaf

Based on @idaho.amy on Instagram who recreates iconic Hilda poses (last slide for reference)

Carved from solid maple, Padauk, white ash, and poplar!

Walnut

Hello all, I am not a carver but I was given a nice piece to use in fishing and would like to protect it. It's an Alaskan style club used to bonk fish for a cleaner processing. My question is what should I put on it to protect it long term? Linseed oil boiled or raw, tung, or something else?

There's some cracking on the pommel (picture is from before it was completed and there's a few more now) and I'd like to slow it down. I'll be wrapping the handle in salmon leather, so hopefully that should keep some water off the area.

Any advice is welcome!

My Grandpa left all of these tools to me since I was always curious about his work. I'm 25 now and think I'm at a point I want to try art in a new medium (I draw and write) and I would hate to let his gift to me go to waste. So, new challenge ahead learning this!

I read the rules and didn't see anything against this type of post, but if there's an issue please let me know!

I’m curious what type of wood this is and hoping for some guidance on how to care for it. It’s really unique and I love it so much. I’m not even religious haha. I am located in Southern California and found it in a thrift shop in Sacramento last week.

Straight billiard, Slow edit this time lol. Any pipe makers in here?

I’m going backpacking soon and thinking about bringing my carving knife and strop. Anybody brought their strop with them before? I’m thinking I should stow it in my bear bag. I’m curious what others have done.

Im relatively new to carving, whittled a half dozen small items (included my most recent dwarf which someone on here gave me inspiration for bit cant recall their name) . Started with a flexcut kn13, but as you can see in the photo, recently run into some issues with the knife. Is flexcut decent to work with or should I try to epoxy it back together myself?

Edit: Quick update, flexcut is wonderful. I had a response within an hour of sending the email/photo and a replacement will be shipped shortly.

Working on a spoon that's also an anatomy study (this isn't meant to be a practical piece) and I'd like some constructive criticism and advice on the anatomy part.

It is still a work in progress (just roughly shaped the hips and legs, didn't start the face) so I'm planning to add some subtle curves for the muscle groups (like I've done for the arms, shoulders and upper back) but want to confirm there's no major issue first.

Hello
I'm making myself some carving knives and I was wondering, outside of "just a regular knife shape" what is your favourite speciality knife shape, and please add an example of what you are using it for.

So after I finished it, I immediately set to build a proper work bench. The designs I bought said it could be done in a weekend ... well, a couple of months later, I've begun work on my next art piece.

I used pink or red heart, not sure which, to create this dual fox skull piece. I've created a raven before this using Zericote.

It's technicly not finished as i plan to make it into a necklace like the last, just trying to figure out it to create a large hole for a cord or to add a silver loop to make it a chain.

I used a variety of beaver craft knives, mostly their chip carver. I also used some flexcut micro palm gouges and a small hand powered drill (I like to keep it all hand powered)

The fox doesn't quite look fox enough for me, which is a shame, but I like it none the less.

I oiled it with walnut oil and sanded it to 600 grit.

Around this time of year I like to carve these little psilocybe semilanceata mushrooms instead of going out and picking them as I used to enjoy when I was younger.

Unfortunately I haven't been in a good enough headspace to consume such a thing for a number of years now, however sitting down and whittling away at some scrap wood is always a good and healthy way to spend your time and free will I find :)

I'm wondering if anyone else here carves any sort of semi-realistic fungi of any kind, or know of anyone who does that they could show me?