Winter Whittling

This week I was running low on wood, so I had to go out and get some. All I have left is one bigger piece of basswood which I am saving for my final carve. Additionally, I have used the biggest dead branches in my backyard already, so I made a run to Rona near my house – You’ll see that in my video – and bought a 48″ X 1-3/8″ Wooden dowel. Now that I had all my supplies I was ready to go.

Since winter is right around the corner I wanted to carve something related to that. Whenever I think of winter I think of big evergreen trees with fluffy white pillows on snow on them. So that’s what I went to find on the internet. For the last few weeks I have been looking to learn from something that is not a YouTube video so I can try learning from a different source, but every other media I find always has a link to a YouTube video that explains the carve. Inevitably, I found another YouTube video that showed how to make exactly what I was looking for. The video is by the creator Whittling Woods and it was very easy to learn from.

I found Whittling Woods and this video to be very informational and easy to follow along with. The camera is set up directly over top of the project which allows for the best view of the different cuts so far. Most of the other videos are from a lower angle, so it is common for hands to get in the field of vision. The birds eye view really helps with that problem. Additionally, I believe that the wood that he started with was larger in comparison to different videos, so that also helped with seeing each individual cut. The final thing I really liked about this video is the constant picture of the final product in the top left corner of the video. While you do each cut you can see how it will translate to the end which is insanely beneficial. Being able to see what you want to do, before you do it, is such an advantage.

The dowel that I got from Rona was very hard to carve. I found this article by Carving is fun about easy ways to soften wood for carving and whittling which helped while I was carving. A couple times throughout this project I soaked the wood in water to soften up it up and allow for easier cuts. I found that this made my knife glide much smoother through the wood than when it was dry.

This was by far the most difficult carve I have done so far. I don’t think that was because of the actual design because the shape and cuts of the project should have been relatively easy. What made this carve difficult was the hardness of the wood and the dullness of my knives. It got so difficult to cut that I was stressing my hands so hard that my thumb is now completely blistered as I write this post. I also kept catching the edge of the knife because it was dull which lead to pricking my finger pretty good. I was bleeding all over the wood and my hands so I had to clean all of that up. By the time I was all cleaned up my hands became so sore that I couldn’t really do anymore carving. So, if you were thinking the tree may look a little unfinished that is why.

I really like this carve and I want to revisit it later, however I am underwhelmed with my final product. I think that circumstances that I was carving under made this beginner project exponentially harder than it needed to be. For next week, I am not going to carve, but rather learn to sharpen the knives I carve with. After the tools are sharper not only will it be easier to work, but it will also be much safer.