Found a fellow carver over the weekend...

Over the weekend I went to a shared lunch that our local church organized, and while there I met someone who has been in the carving and furniture making business for quite some time.

He was very helpful, and provided me with a few tips, and a couple of bits of wood to practice carving with, and indicated that he had more wood I could have if I had a particular project in mind, once I had a bit more experience.

It was definately very nice to find an experienced wood carver that I can bring questions too, and he seems eager to share his knowledge, so that is quite good.

When I mentioned that my first two attempts at carving have been in Radiata Pine, he indicated that pine was particularly difficult to carve with, so hopeful the wood he has provided will be easier.

My Second Carving Attempt... Part 2

My Second woodcarving after a second lot of work...
Taking quite a while and I think my next purchase is going to be a sharpening stone. My tools are still cutting away at the wood reasonably well, but not as well as they were...

There definately is alot more wood to cut away with this carving, as opposed to my First Wood Carving, but I am hopping it is going to be worth it once I have finished.

My next step will probably be to copy the pattern onto the other side, so I can start cutting in from that side as well...

My Second Carving Attempt...

This time I decided to try going with the "Get me a Beer" Wood Carving Pattern.

This is a side on view of how far I got in my first night (only using hand tools, no power tools). This took a very long time, only using various chisels, and a paring knife.

This is a front on view of the same carving, as it currently is. I will probably be working on this for some time.

Working on Wood Carving Website

I have been working on loading information on to my New Zealand Wood Carving website today, in particular doing alot of work on the Maori Wood Carving section of the website.

My next step will probably be to see about putting some tutorials up on the site, if I can find some good tutorials and get permission to post them on the site.

In creating the site I have been learning alot more about wood carving, as I research information, and it has been very interesting, particularly learning about the different Maori patterns that are used, and what they mean.

Finishing my first Carving...

Following on from My First Carving Attempt... I have finished the carving.

This is the finished carving.

After carving I decided to paint it with some paints that I had lying around, and of course I forgot to paint the eyes...

So I attempted to paint the eyes, and ended up with massive eyes, totally out of proportion.

My First Carving Attempt...

Trying to follow the Pattern for the Santa Study Stick that I found through the Beginners Carving Corner and Beyond: Beginners tutorials and links that I mentioned in my previous Post.

I started with a piece of wood that I found under the house (wich probably isn't the best place to start). As a result, while I can guess that it is probably pine, I do not know for sure.

I started the first few cuts, and then progressed on with the carving, only realizing too late that I had made the face too small. Instead of extending back about 2/3rds of the way into the wood, my carving only extends a little under 1/2 way. Well, I guess that is what they call the learning process...

I haven't finished yet, but this is where I was up to when I finished off last night.

Beginners Carving Corner and Beyond: Beginners tutorials and links

Found a few good sites that I plan on studying as I learn the art of Carving
Beginners Carving Corner and Beyond: Beginners tutorials and links

and

Haydens Classroom
I plan on starting with some of the tutorials that are shown in "Haydens Classroom", and find it kind of fitting, as my first name is Hayden.

The Beginning...

After several months of considering getting in to Woodcarving, I decided that I should stop thinking about it and do something about it.

Stopping in at my local Mitre 10 on Wednesday last week, I picked up a basic set of wood carving tools for the very cheap price of $17 NZ. I then went home and quickly found that the pieces of Radiata Pine wood that I had did not seem particularly good for carving, so I then went first to the internet, and then to the public library to find more information on Wood Carving, and what types of wood would be most suitable.

The internet was not alot of help, as it mainly gave a list of the woods commonly used in America, and Europe, alot of which are not available in New Zealand, however I was able to find a book in the public library that listed woods that were suitable for carving that are generally available in New Zealand. The book was Wood Carving: Techniques, Concepts and Projects for New Zealanders

I also watched a series of YouTube videos about wood carving, and found that they gave a fair amount of insight, even though they were not specifically about the type of wood carving I was wanting to do (Relief wood carving).

I will post a list of these YouTube videos at a later point (as I am currently at work, where YouTube is blocked).