Many people started woodcarving years ago in Scouts or 4-H clubs by carving soap. Some followed up, others didn’t. Today, our club has many seasoned pros whose work we can all admire, and we have many rookies who are trying grab onto everything the club has to offer. Many of our teachers take classes to learn techniques outside their specialty. There is a debate...

Hand Carve a Majestic Buck
With this project, I wanted to create a majestic look that captures the deer’s graceful movements. To accomplish this, I posed the deer walking down a sloped base. I enjoy carving deer because even if you use the same general pose, you can give the deer a different attitude by changing the position of the ears. If you choose to...

Using Scrapers
When most folks think of scrapers, they visualize a tool used to scrape paint, like the red-handled tool in the photo. But woodworkers use a variety of scrapers to efficiently smooth and shape wood. Scrapers are primarily used on hardwoods and don’t work well with softer woods. To smooth this leaf bowl, I use mainly the square card scrapers, but...