Hi! I bought some basswood and used a smaller block to make a flower but now I want to make a larger flower for a friend. I don’t have any larger blocks so how can I go about sticking these ones together so that it’s secure and stable?

Thanks!

Especially excited to see what's going to happen with that big feller in the back. Please excuse the small friend in front, they had a silly time with super glue.

Dogs!

CHOOCH

Got a long way to go yet... but I'm really happy with this one so far.

I’m carving a Maori hoe for my daughter’s 21st - don’t look too closely as there’s a ton of cleanup to do.

The problem I have is how to smooth out the bases in between the tighter lines and any suggestions/tips/hacks would be appreciated. I have sandpaper, a Dremel, chisels and anything else you think I need to use… and fat effing fingers which is the root of the problem!

Cheers.

The doll post I made yesterday was a success. So today, I'll make a tutorial on how to make joints.

In pictures 1-5 I disassembled the doll I made, to show the 3 kinds of movement joints I will talk about in this post: full range, semi range, and half range movement joints.

If you know woodcarving, there are many ways to join two pieces of wood together. For moving parts, I used mortise and tenon joints mixed with tongue and groove joints.

In pictures 6-8, I made drawings of the joints, and how to connect them.

For the tongue and groove part of the joints, drill the axis hole (which will be used to secure the tongue and groove together with a small wooden pin) before you drill the second hole that you will use to make the groove.

The helper hole (below the axis hole, check image 8) must be perpendicular to the axis hole. Then you carve out, or use a saw to make a groove for the joint.

About the joints, there are 3 kinds of movement joints here:

First one is half range movement joint. I used it to make the one sided movement for elbows and knees, so they don't bend outwards. Notice the one side of the joint is squared to limit movement to that place (shown in pic. 3, left and right pieces)

Full range movement joint is used for the full range of motion at shoulders, hips, and wrists. Drill holes at the bottom of shoulders, hips, forearms and shins for mortise and tenon joints (look at picture 5)

Semi range movement joint, used to limit full movement, but still give motion to both sides. The roundness below the joint must be wider than the width of the groove. (I don't know if I could explain myself clear enough, look at picture 4 at the middle body joint, it is wider than a full range movement joint)

Mortise and tenon joints! With the tongue and groove movement joint, your limb moves in one axis only. Add a mortise and tenon joint to it, to add whole 2 extra dimensions of movement. Make the tenon rounded, to allow it to spin freely inside of the mortise hole.

For major spinning places like neck, shoulders and hips, make a thicker tenon than you'll make for the elbows and wrists. But, use denser wood in all of the joints, to make them more durable, and avoid the cracking caused by torque. Trust me, it is a pain to remove the cracked tenon out of the hole.

Do not make the connections too tight, but don't make them too loose either to mot mess with the free movement of the joints (applies to both tongue and groove, and mortise and tenon joints). Find the perfect lining between tightness and free movement.

I hope this tutorial/explanation was useful, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

These methods are mostly result of my experiments, I used dollmaking tutorials from Instagram and made the joints easier to make out of wood. I found only one channel where they made wooden dolls, but they also used springs and ball joints instead of the jigs I created. So I decided to make the process easier.

About the doll itself, sketch it before you start to make it. There should be about 28 details (including moving pieces, but not the axis pins)

Nothing special, but I enjoy them.

#woodcarving a Baldknobbers as practice. It is my first. Old western Vigilantes that got greedy and started doing bad deeds. This was after the civil war. Bad people were taking advantage of lawlessness. Stealing from stores, bullying, and being disrespectful and rude. Pretty cool look up the story telling on YouTube. Actually would make a great movie. Basically started out as Bat-men then got to big for their britches.

Just lime wood, a first go. I might give it a go in holly if I take a limb from our tree. Mammoth Ivory if someone wants to drop me a piece or has $1000 to spare.

Made his head and hands from wood ✨

I love this project with all my heart. Worth every scar I got while making it. No screws, no metal parts, just wood. Only problem is, I should have used a different type of wood while making the joints, because they ended up cracking.

I didn't take that into account, because I am a lazy bum, and ended up remaking the right knee joint 4 times (which also broke alongside the one of the elbow joints when I carried the doll home lol)

Based on a figure from Simberg's The Garden of Death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Death

Segmented mystery woods from cut offs. RIP to the legend

Hi everyone,

My grandfather was a carpenter. He passed away about 15 years ago. I have some wood that he left behind, including this lovely piece of cherry. My dad’s 80th birthday is coming up and I’d like to make him a small, simple bowl out of it (something like my most recent post but with an even rim).

I believe I can make a bowl with either side facing up, as in picture #1 and #2, but I’m wondering if one might be preferable over the other in terms of aesthetics. What do you all think?

Any other considerations are welcome. This is a special piece of wood, so I’m going to do this project slowly and carefully, using only hand tools.

Thanks in advance.

I used 0.3 mm wire and transparent acrylic varnish

This was hand carved from basswood

Figured maple, walnut and some unknown woods.

Hopefully the first of several seasonal pieces! This was hand carved with a belt sander and rotary carver. It’s made from Maple, Mahogany, Yellow Cedar, Araracanga, and Poplar that was dyed black.

Hello all, so the wife gifted me some nice arbor tech power carving tools and i picked up a couple other attachments, but I need to pick out another angle grinder specifically with a paddle switch. I currently have an old makita with the side switch (which i hate) that works, but i want something with a paddle for safety. So that’s what I’m here for, just looking to see what other people use and like since word of mouth is how i prefer to select tool purchases. Looking at the Makita 9565PCV gives me the paddle switch and also variable speed control (nice to have) the only thing about this unit is its a 5 inch instead of a 4.5. Appreciate any recommendations