Basic Wood Carving Techniques
Wood carving is a hobby that's been around for decades. Some people do it for enjoyment, others make complex or simple carvings, furniture or signs to earn a living. There are many ways to carve wood, from simple whittling to complex power cutting devices. The techniques employed to carve wood range from cutting to chiseling to burning. Here are some of the easiest and most effective techniques to help you get started carving wood right away.
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Relief Carving
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Relief carving is the art of chipping and cutting away at a flat piece of wood to bring out a carving so that it appears to be three dimensional. Relief carving is typically done with a chisel and hammer, although carving knives are often employed to detail the finished work. In relief carving, the craftsman chisels wood away from the flat piece until the image he's after begins to take shape within the wood, appearing as if it is rising out of the wood in relief.
Chip Carving
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Chip carving is a technique usually employed on larger pieces of work such as tree stumps or logs, and uses a hatchet and larger chisels. This technique is much like sculpting, and it involves chipping away at the wood until you've brought out the sculpture
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Wood Burning
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Wood burning is a technique primarily used to add designs to finished wood projects, but some carvers actually use the burning method to carve smaller projects. Wood burning pens burn away wood rather than carve it, leaving blackened edges around the final carving.
Whittling
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Whittling is one of the oldest, simplest and most relaxing ways to work with wood. The technique involves nothing more than a piece of wood and a carving knife. Wood craftsman who have practiced this art for sometime can often sit down and whittle just about anything within half an hour or so. Whittling is simply a matter of cutting bits of wood away from a block until the design you're after takes shape. In many cases, skilled wood carvers accomplish this with a small carving knife, both roughing out and detailing with the same knife.
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