These are the tools that I use for “casual” carving and doing small projects such as woodspirit walking sticks.

The project seen is called “Grapes and Leaves” and is a Berkeley Woodcarving instructor’s beginning project for new students. Credit goes to Sherilyn Tharp from tharphamiltonwoodworking.com for carving the wood. This is a beginning project because it uses most of the tools you will need in more advanced carving (V tool, U tool, stop cuts, .etc). To make this particular grapes and leaves appear to be carving by itself we took exactly 3233 pictures. Sheri (the woodcarver) would break up a cut which would normally be one movement into (depending on the length) 3-5 small ones. After each small cut she would have to remove her hands from the frame and I would make sure no stray dust was in the shot. One can imagine what 3233 of those must have been like.

How to set up for wood carving in a safe and effective manner.

This is a form of folk art woodcarving says Stuart King, it has been practiced all over Europe from Romania to Russia, from Poland to Scandinavia and was often executed with nothing more than a pocket knife to while away the time.