Hi! If this question is inappropriate for this sub or too commonly asked I will happily take it down, I have just been struggling to find a concrete answer so I thought I'd ask!

I want to get into woodcarving just for small animal figurines and statues and stuff like that, however I struggle with attention and focus so I sometimes drop hobbies pretty quickly.

Therefore, I wanted to get just one knife to start out with. I was looking at the "BeaverCraft C8 small cutting knife", as it is cheap to get in Australia (where I am). My two questions are, would I be able to achieve small animal figures with just one knife, and would this knife be suitable to achieve this? The other knife I was looking at was the BeaverCraft C15 but I thought it might be too small to achieve every step of the process, but I am also worried that the C8 is also too small.

If anyone has any insight I would be very grateful, as I really have no clue what I'm talking about (not even exactly sure how a cutting knife differs from a detail knife) and am just looking to pick up a new hobby for christmas. Thank you in advance!

Very new to the hobby and looking to get better. The problem is I bought a kit off of Amazon (to see if the hobby was a good fit) and don't understand if I am using the products correctly. I watched a few videos on blade sharpening, but could not find one on a beginner's kit like mine.

I am know I rub the green compound on the leather side of the paddle provided, or at least that is what I think I should be doing, before sliding the blade at the appropriate angle. Not sure how much compound to use, if I am being honest.

Anyone have experience with using one of these kits and sharpening their tools?

Side question - how often do you sharpen you blades in terms of hours of carving? The videos I watched say every hour of carving then sharpen.

Hi! I made a little carving out a flaky stick I found laying around; I don’t expect it to last very long but I’d like to paint it anyways… can I just slather some acrylic paint on it, or do I need primer or anything like that for the paint to adhere? Also, how can I accomplish a worn kind of look with the paint? Should I water it down, use a different tool that isn’t a brush, paint it and then sand it down a bit? I’ll be really grateful for any guidance!

We bought this nice made in Japan wood dresser but one of the drawer pullers is broken. Do you think it’s possible to carve another?

Excited to get my first one done! Just a classic simple santa from looking at Doug Linker’s tutorial (except I had to flop the hat over because my wood was a little shorter). Let me know if you have any tips to improve!

While waiting for my order of next-step beginner carving tools to get here (now that I’ve got a better idea of what my own carving process looks like), I figured I’d practice sharpening (from 400 grit) on some of my larger chisels that I haven’t particularly enjoyed working with - and the first one went great! Feeling super encouraged to keep sharpening the rest of the batch :)

(very new to wood carving)

hello all :)

I have read the wiki and so the part about the wooden ustensils safetiness. I get that I have to find myself a piece of wood wich don't have wide pore. But still i need to know if that piece can be picked up from the ground of the nearest forest ? Doesn't it have to be dried first ?

If so, is there any signs I should look out for wich would help me to know if the piece of wood is suitable for carving or not ?

(very new to wood carving)

(hopefully the question doesn't sound dumb)

(having some internet issues so I might not be able to answer frequently, anyway thank you for your time)

So, recently I carved this handle. I'm planning to finish it with wax+oil, but I want to make grooves more visible. Is there a way to do it? I thought about staining it with dark pigment, let it dry, and sand off the outer layer... but I tried it with other wood piece and turns out stain penetrates really deep. (It's an Elm wood)

A relative that lives a few states away asked me to ship them something, I know it's probably me being too cautious and that im not shipping it soaking wet with oil, but I know linseed oil self combusts, would it be okay in a package?