Thank you! It means a lot that you and others are finding my channel helpful. While I absolutely love other channels like Doug Linker and Gene Messer, there are very few channels that go into full detail on helping the absolute beginner through the learning curve. While some will naturally know what to do, others who are interested may only see the end results instead and become intimidated on what they perceive to be a very difficult task. All the other channels are absolutely wonderful for showing what wood carving has to offer, but I just saw a small gap that seems crucial for bringing in more people and keeping this tradition alive. If I can help bring in just a handful of new people to whittling and wood carving, I will be ecstatic.

Thanks for clarifying! I wondered... I used to hang out in my dad's workshop when I was a kid, and he taught me a bunch about wood. He did all kinds of wood and metal working, including carving and making furniture. He loved to carve with cherry, and to make furniture with black walnut. I learned how to carve from him, and I still have a small set of chisels and gouges he gave me. I'm watching videos like yours now because I haven't carved in a long time. I wanted to refresh my knowledge of safety, technique, and tools. I knew I needed to get a couple of carving knives, but I always used my dad's so I've never picked my own. (I ordered a couple of OCC Tools knives - can't wait to try them out.)

Thanks and I'm happy you were able to find the reviews useful!

I bet it was! My first jumps in were with the palm branches as they are everywhere down here :) Super easy and quite satisfying.

Thanks! It is indeed a wonderful hobby.

Oooo, good to know! Maybe I should start paying attention to where the wood is sourced from. I wonder how many places give that info?

Indeed! I will eventually get properly set up for that, my friends and family do bowls, pens, and furniture parts. Always fun to carve on a lathe.

I personally love cherry! Its a few times harder than basswood, but I always love how they turn out. Just have some patience and you will have some wonderful work in the end

I personally havent looked for elm before. You could check your local lumberyard or woodworking supply store. You might find some larger sectuons on ebay as well.

Walnut is indeed hard! If you can, try butternut :) It can easily be cut even with "bad" knives.

I personally would use rhe wood you have readily available as your go to source, but it wouldn't hurt ti try some basswood just for comparison

@@CarvingisFun Ok thanks for the advice. I didn't know that pine is less hard then Basswood. I finally had enough money and ordered a Beavercraft knife. I hope having a real carving knife. Will allow me to cut a fraction as well as yours. I have tried sharpening and used a leather strop I had. I thought my knife was really sharp. I could slice a sheet of paper. Your knives appear so sharp and cut so easily and remove so much wood. Hopefully the knife i got will help things and ill get better at honing.

Sometimes sticks can be trial and error. Normally, If I squeeze the stick with my hand and it has some give it may be too far gone.

@@CarvingisFun thank you so much for the quick response I think tomorrow I'm gonna start picking up the sticks in the yard so I can shave some down and sand them for the dog so he doesn't get splinters in his mouth when we play fetch I may try and go.to the hardware store and see if I can get some small pieces of wood to start carving too

This video may be of interest to you! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iNWhmtaY0LyblYk.html Also, this list may help you determine what wood to try carving carvingisfun.com/wood-hardness/

I have seen peolpe do amazing work with firewood, noted it is a bit harder to carve but will get the job done. Construction wood can also be used as well. Here in the US we use pine (not sure what you have) and it is similar in density to basswood. Just dont use pressure treated wood and try and find the "premium" wood used for furniture if available. Also, basswood goes by a few other names, linden wood and lime wood are popular options. Maybe see if someone sells "carving blocks" or "carving wood" in your area.

Good progression! I actually want to get into soap carving to learn more about it and it also looks to be very satisfying.

Teak is a little more than twice as hard as basswood, but still a viable option!! Just take it slow and dont force cuts

I usually pick 1"x1"x4" blocks of wood for my beginner projects.

Lime wood goes by many names like linden wood and basswood, which is what I use. So I like it and it is an excellent option for whittling :)

I looked into this a while back and didn't get a clear answer. It seems that the denser the wood, the harder it is to carve but the greater detail can be carved. The expert European carvers in the mediaeval ages apparently used large-leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos) which seems to be the densest and best for holding details. Basswood (Tilia americana) seemed to be softer and easier to carve bit not as good for detail. Tilia cordata (small leaved lime) seemed to be a bit less amazing than large leaved lime. So in terms of being favoured by the pro carvers of bygone eras (which is not necessarily what a new carver wants today) it would go (best > worst): Tilia platyphyllos > Tilia cordata > Tilia Americana and I suspect for beginning carvers the ranking would be in reverse There is also a hybrid lime called Tilia x europea, also called common lime because it was the most common one, so I guess this is what most people would have used except maybe in northern countries (where T. cordata is found but not the others)

Ha! you are absolutely correct :) I flipped them in my head and didn't even realize it, good catch!

@@CarvingisFun My pleasure. gonna try to whittle a piece of walnut now.

Tupelo is kinda coveted down here and only grows in specific parts of florida (northern parts in the panhandle I think) The bee farmers like them for the specific honey the tupelo flowers produce I think.

I would venture a guess that their dowels are yellow pine. Its harder, but if you take your time you can get more detail in than you could with basswood because of the hardness. Ponderosa pine or poplar is what I usually grab at my local hardware stores, with a preference to the premium poplar as I like the way it looks a bit better :)

@@CarvingisFun Lowes supposedly has Poplar dowels (it's on their website, but customer service at the local Lowes says they all need to be "special ordered" - I don't believe that they have no Poplar dowels in stock). Anyway, no one at Lowes, local or corporate, knows whether the Poplar is Balsam or Yellow, just like the Home Depot people are ignorant too about whether their "hardwood", supposedly Pine, is the Janka 380 Eastern White or the harder Janka 870 Longleaf/Loblolly/Slash/Shortleaf pine. So - it's confusing. I guess that's what happens when big corporations push out the "mom and pop" stores. I suppose that I'll follow your recommendation about the Ponderosa pine board (if I can find it at HD) Janka 460 and saw it as needed. Any other suggestions? Thank you!

Have you checked out Constantine's wood center in Ft. Lauderdale? They should have everything you need and can provide specific woods.

@@CarvingisFun Never heard of them - will look them up - many thanks for the suggestion. 👍

@@CarvingisFun Found out that Ponderosa is a Western Yellow pine, Janka 460 - so that looks good!

Unfortunately, I don't have a store that I can sell items with right now. Sorry!

Well my calluses come and go depending on how much work I physically do, since I have been wearing gloves they have been heavily reduced. Usually they pick up when I do more stone carving but I haven't done that in a year n a half as I busted my last 4 dremels. Just got in a new, more durable, rotary tool so I hope to find the time to get that going again.

That is a Flexcut Stub Sloyd Knife

@@CarvingisFun I have a Morakniv sloyd knife, but I love the cherry handle on the Flexcut sloyd. It's a lot more expensive, but I may have to pick one up someday just because of the pretty handle, haha.

Indeed :)