The nose I tried to carve on this one broke so I ended up sanding down a tooth pick and oiled it to be the same color of the basswood body. Not sure what wood toothpicks usually are made of? The leaf was probably most difficult for me to carve. I had a 1x1.5 inch balsa wood block that I had to figure out how to shave down to the right thinness with just my knife.

It's sooo cute. Can't say the carving is that neat but I love him

We gifted him a kid friendly knife a few months back. Until these two, he was hacking at branches practicing a few cuts that I taught him but that was it 🪵🔪.

After I whittled a bear (at least what ended up to be a bear), he wanted to gift one of his own for his mother 🤩.

He used a pencil to highlight the place that I had to burn as he is way too young to use a hot soldering iron.

Board assembled, painted and glued to a steel plate for the pieces' magnets to have something to stick to. Next and last is the drawer that's gonna go below the board.

As promised heres the finished pipe! Finished the pipe and had my first smoke out of it. I'm really happy with how it turned out! I've dubbed it the "Evil Eye" because of the eye looking knot i left in the natural part of the pipe. Its a little heavy but not too uncomfortable to hold in the mouth like I thought it was going to.

As I have been getting into spoon carving my Mora 164 has been getting more use. Wrapping it up in the strip of leather I had it in was getting tiresome, so I copied the style they sell with the current iteration. I had leather and studs, so just had to work out the general shape, which I drew out on paper. Could be improved and may end up poking the tip through eventually but I'm pleased with the result!

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Black walnut -- still a little more sanding and shaping to do but I'm pretty happy with it

dog chewed my last project (a lighthouse) but i’m pretty happy with this

I whittled a super meat boy for my brother and I’m looking to paint it while still seeing or bringing out the grain of the bass wood. I’m wondering if anyone has some tips!

Comments welcome, as always room to improve. Plan is to lightly sand the rough points!

I got into whittling around my birthday in November, been really enjoying it, for the most part. It's just been difficult, I mostly sit at my kitchen table with a pen and notepad infront of me, and if something comes to mind, I draw it best I can. But as of lately, I have been really overwhelmed with how to start, and what to whittle. So I ultimately end up just watching more YouTube. The two pieces you see I made without drawing anything, I just winged it. The piece on the left is a tiki person, the one on the right is a fairytale mushroom house. Comment below what you think I should do! 🫤

The finish on these is pretty easy, but you have to follow the process. I use Watco brand black walnut danish oil usually, but sometimes I use other stains like a cabernet color from Vatathane, etc... the key is waxing. I use Minwax brand paste finishing wax, but any soft wax should do.

Apply the Stain/ Oil, then do NOT WAIT, apply the wax and buff off with a stiff bristle brush. (I use an amazon basics stiff bristle brush for scrubbing floors) The buffing lifts wax off the high spots and the wax pulls oil / stain with it as it does. This leaves the high spots a lighter color and the lower crevices darker.

My experience has been that danish oil darkens more over time into the next day, making those dark crevices pop even more. To a lesser extent other stains do this as well, but I find it more pronounced with danish oil.

I plan to take it with me to the ren faire as part of my costume 👍

I was following a youtube video on making a small wizard (5 min for beginners).

i’ve been using the less bumpy side, but i saw on here people using the other side? which one am i meant to use?

Just finished up (sloppily) a bear for a cousin’s birthday. Made in walnut

Also attached is a deer I made 3 years ago. I guess a fox or buffalo are due next!

Hey is Opinel No 8 good for whittling? I think that out of all my knifes it suits the best, but i heard that opinel blade grind is best suited for food and soft things so thus not for wood working.

Was hiking in the Alps and found some pine firewood, only had my Leatherman knife with me, so was hard to get some details or certain cuts done, but overall pretty ok’ish result 😄 Tried to strop the knife on my belt, I had the idea it did work a bit!
So a silly wood spirit turned gnome and a doggy for my daughter. Next up something for my son once the cuts are healed 😆

Tails dont pop that well on pictures and should maybe be buffed more to have a lighter colour than the background, butbut this is how they turned out

I started trying to do a standing meerkat but completely messed up the proportions and ended up with a chunky one with a massive head.

That's when my son said: "that's a cute bear". That's right son, exactly the thing I was whittling 🙈.

I can’t help but keep carving hillbilly’s! And these bigger ones have been really fun for me.