This is a one day class for the person that is considering woodcarving as a hobby. It covers the basics of safety, tools and how to use and sharpen them, woods, finishes, sources of supply, and additional resources. I teach this class in one day at Roundups and for Local clubs.

Email me at jeodea@aol.com to discuss details and schedule a class for your club.

Instruction Guide for the Fundamentals of Woodcarving Class

By Jim O’Dea, Rotonda West, FL jeodea@aol.com

Safety:
1. Finger guards, Thumb guards or Tape- masking, or green medical
2. Gloves – Kevlar, stainless steel, leather, cotton
3. Aprons - leather – particularly if you are carving in your lap or power carving
4. Small cuts can be dangerous due to infections or hitting a nerve
5. Put several band aids in your tool box
6. Toxic woods www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/wood2.html
7. Spalted wood www.thewoodbox.com/data/wood/spaltedinfo.htm

How to use a knife: - Two hands on the tool or two hands on the wood
1. Use thumb to draw blade to edge of wood
2. Use thumb as balance point to accurately recut the same spot
3. Use thumb as movement control on blade
4. Pivot off the thumb, makes use of leverage for less force and sensitivity of control
5. Use long blade as Detail knife – hold blade between middle finger and thumb, as some people write.

Types of knives and important parameters:
1. Straight blades – majority of knives made for woodcarving
2. Curved blades – specialty blade or pocket knife
3. Blade thickness – thinner better but weaker
4. Blade width – thinner for detail work, wider for rough out
5. Blade quality – amount of carbon
6. Blade hardness – unit of measure Rockwell
Soft 56 –58: flexible, easy to sharpen, dulls sooner, need to sharpen more often
Hard 61-65: brittle, tip breaks easier, stays sharp longer, harder to sharpen
Composite – has hard center layer with softer side layers, best of both worlds, Sweden
7. Handles – should be comfortable in you hand. Round rolls of table, flat spots won’t, thin allows you to get blade closer to the wood
8. Blade guards to keep your edge sharp – plastic tubing, Styrofoam, leather sheath, corks
9. If you sand your carving – uses a knife or gouge after that will dull it real quick

Gouges: - Size of carving you want to do influences size of tools
1. Defined by “sweep” number (1 to 11) and width (inches or millimeters)
2. Straight, bent and spoon shanks
3. Palm or straight handles

V-tools: - Size of carving you want to do influences size of tools
1. Defined by angle of the V (45, 60, 70, 90 degrees) and width (inches or millimeters)
2. Straight or bent shanks
3. Palm or straight handles

Wood Selection: Free wood – my favorite
1. Basswood – soft, little grain, keeps an edge, good if you want to paint project
2. Pine – soft, heavy grain, carves nice put not good keeping an edge, splits easy
3. Tupelo – bird carvers like it, works well with power tools and burners
4. White Cedar – soft, tight grain
5. Butternut – soft, heavy grain, brown, coloring, good for projects left natural
6. Jelutong from The Hardwood Connection in Sycamore Illinois. They do mail order, phone number is 815-895-8733.
7. Kiln dried versus air dried (slowing the drying process with plastic bags)

Finishing Your carving
1. Painting with acrylics – thin paints tyo a few drops of paint to a tablespoon of water. Wash carving with dish soap and water and a stiff hand brush, let dry or force with a hair dryer. Paint white color and all of eyes. Coat with min-ax natural stain and a little burnt umber oil stain mixed together. Wipe excess off and continue painting with other acrylic colors. A few days later spray with Deft or clear Kyrlon matt finish.
2. Non- Paint: Danish Oil, Tung Oil, Boiled linseed Oil, Wax, Deft or clear Kyrlon lacquer finish.

Woodcarving Organizations and Publications:
1. National Wood Carvers Association – publishes Chip/Chats magazine 6 times a years-what’s going on in woodcarving vice how to carve. Web site http://www.chipchats.org/ This magazine deals with local club shows, classes etc. It's a good way to get to know the carvers & their style of carving. In the back of each issue you'll find several pages of upcoming classes (when, where, who is teaching them) as well as upcoming shows (dates, location, contact person). It's complete and informative. National Wood Carvers Association, P.O. Box 43218, Cincinnati, OH 45243
2. Carving Magazine how to carve - www.carvingmagazine.com published 4 times a year $20. They do an excellent job with carving projects and articles for all levels of carving skill. You can find all information on their web site. Browse through back issues, projects, etc...even have a forum. Woodcarvers Companion - home of the Woodcarver Online Magazine, World Wide Woodcarver Exchange, and Woodcarver Resource Files http://carverscompanion.com/ 800-943-6877
3. Woodcarving Illustrated – how to carve- published 4 times a year @ $20.. They offer carving projects and a slate of show events as well. 800-457-9112 www.WoodCarvingIllustrated.com

On line resources:

Carving Magazine Online