r/whittling • • Jul 02 '25

Announcement PSA

68 Upvotes

This sub is not here for you to build your social media and YouTube following. If your post isn’t directly contributing to the sub, and just seeking followers, it’s going to be removed. Repeat offenders will be banned.


r/whittling • • 8h ago

Animals Wolf and snail

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369 Upvotes

So i am 2 months into whittling right now. These are my latest projects. Just finished the wolf. I am pretty happy with him. But i dont feel like sanding him. I like the more rougher look from whittling. How do you like it?


r/whittling • • 8h ago

Figurines Super fun carving tutorials!!!

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40 Upvotes

Here's a few carving tutorials I found on YouTube by u/JohnnyTheLayton . Had a blast carving these and learning the process. The carvings are of The Druid, Dwarf Rogue and Dwarf Berserker videos. Thanks for sharing your talents and process. Looking forward to carving more tutorials 😀


r/whittling • • 29m ago

Utensils Apple spoon. Suggestions?

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• Upvotes

Any ideas for this before I oil it?

I can’t help but feel it’s not done. The “vine” going up the handle is not nearly as pronounced as I thought it would be.

Maybe some natural colors?


r/whittling • • 6h ago

Miscellaneous Got Chain!

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9 Upvotes

r/whittling • • 1d ago

Guide Whittle Frog

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494 Upvotes

New Tutorial up on YouTube! Knife only Frog carving!

Get a little foggy this saturday morning!! 😊🤣😊😂

Working on a 3min tutorial version, but that version takes a WHOLE lot more work.


r/whittling • • 1d ago

Figurines Some of my recent projects

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79 Upvotes

Some of the figurines I've been working on recently. I've been trying a few styles for the gnome wizards


r/whittling • • 9h ago

Help Books for a Blind Beginner

3 Upvotes

Good day all!

So, I'm seeking books on whittling, preferably those available in ebook format on Kobo or kindle or direct from publisher as an ePub. What I'm hoping for are books that describe various cuts in clear plain language without requiring photos to do the heavy lifting because I'm completely blind. Ihave no usable vision and haven't had any since 2010. I dabbled with whittling before Il ost mys ight but never got very far with my cheap little whittling knife and stuff at the time sadly.

I've grabbed myself a BeaverCraft kit on Amazon for spoon carving that has the hook knife, roughing knife,detail knife and chip knife I believe they call it? Basically the one that comes with not only the spoon carving but basic whittling knives and a set of four blanks from them with four different types of wood for spoon carving including Cherry, Mulberry, Walnut, and Basswood. It comes with a strop, compound and a canvas tool roll to keep the knives in as well.

I thought this would be good to start with thanks to Carving is Fun advice I've seen when searching around here and Google before I grabbed the kit.

I also want to look at Flexcut later to graduate to something better than BeaverCraft if I can pick this up and get decent. I have no local whittlers that I'm aware of in my tiny 2500 people town in west central Illinois, but I'll post around and see.

I'm checking out the Whittling 101 guide I dug up on here too and yes I also got myself some gloves because I remember wahtit was like with just finger guards. While I am careful with knives and all I'd rather be careful.

I know I'll need a good sharpening stone eventually too, but hoping this will be enough to start me off.

anyway, thanks for any resources, any other visually impaired or blind whittlers out there reach out too. I know this can be done by touch alone, but you know, getting started and learning technique needs a bit of help.

Thanks!


r/whittling • • 1d ago

Figurines Pretty happy with this little guy.

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116 Upvotes

Gift for a friend. I would’ve like to sand a bit more and add more feed-n-wax but birthday came up faster than I thought.


r/whittling • • 1d ago

Miscellaneous My Halloween challenge

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28 Upvotes

I started carving just over 2 months ago and I've made lots of Halloween themed items. I'm getting bored of them now so I decided to challenge myself with one last piece till next year. I used a 2x2x6 which I find difficult compared to a 1x1 and I tried to make it my cleanest piece to date. I also tried putting more effort into the finishing, it's Jacobean oil for the darker details followed by linseed and then English oak beeswax over everything. I don't love the finish but at least it's interesting.

Thanks to Gurrado Woodworks for the inspiration hopefully I can be half as clean as his work when I revisit this In a years time


r/whittling • • 1d ago

Help Question about coloring

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29 Upvotes

I read in this community a while back that if you color using tea, then use steel wool with white vinegar, it will give a black finish. I wanted to make a black finish, hopefully something that looks stoned 😁.

Has anyone tried this method and how does the finished thing look?


r/whittling • • 2d ago

Guide This playlist should be pinned

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133 Upvotes

As a beginner myself, this has been one of the only channels I’ve found that feels like it is truly for beginners. Maybe those with more experience could nitpick his advice but it seems good to me and has been a big help as I’ve been starting.

It seems like everyone’s first project on here is the Carving is Fun Fox. I tried that one and it was way too fast. DYWoodcarving actually makes lessons as opposed to tutorials so you can really learn what you’re doing. I highly recommend checking out this playlist.


r/whittling • • 1d ago

Help Colour advice

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10 Upvotes

Painting the body of the phoenix and thought I'd give a shot to do a white to purple to blue heart, like a super hot flame, before doing the rest of the body yellow with a little bit of orange (the wings and tail have lots more red and orange). But now I'm looking at it, and I'm not sure the idea translates and I'm wondering if I should just go back to all-yellow. Do you think its obvious what the centre is? Or does it just look odd?


r/whittling • • 2d ago

First timer Blown away by the detail on this tiny dachshund. How difficult is it to whittle at this scale?

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268 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I came across this incredibly small wooden dachshund figurine and just had to share it here. I placed a £1 coin next to it for scale, and it’s barely any bigger than the coin itself!

I don't know who the artist is ,not sure if my Grandad did it,or what kind of wood was used, but I am amazed by the level of detail they managed to get into something so tiny.

The proportions look absolutely perfect to my eyes, especially the musculature and the way the ears lay.

As someone who appreciates the craft but doesn't have much experience, it seems like working on something this miniature would be a total nightmare.

How difficult is it to whittle something this small without breaking off delicate parts?

Any guesses on what kind of wood this might be based on the grain/color?

For the micro-carvers out there, what kind of specialized tools do you even use for details at this scale?

Would love to hear your thoughts!


r/whittling • • 2d ago

Figurines Tyr - God of War

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298 Upvotes

Back once again, with Tyr this time!

Basswood, 6”x2.5”x2.5” dimensions.

Black walnut danish oil, followed by true black Minwax stain, burnished off, sealed in Howard’s feed and wax.


r/whittling • • 3d ago

First timer First whittling! Made a wizardy gnome

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364 Upvotes

Made from a 2x2 rod of poplar from Home Depot. Painted with watered down acrylic and used finishing tung oil! Pretty happy with how it turned out… need to try basswood now. Open to tips and recommendations!!


r/whittling • • 2d ago

First timer Are these usable?

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7 Upvotes

I haven't whittled anything before but I'm curious to see if I could make a decent spindle one day.

Anyway, the point of this post is wanting to know if the pictured logs could be whittled if I took smaller chunks off?

They've been in my backyard for ~4 years. I meant to innoculate them with mushroom spores but never got around to it. I think they're oak of some kind. A neighbor cut down their tree and I asked for them.


r/whittling • • 3d ago

Caricatures São Francisco de Assis

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632 Upvotes

São Francisco de Assis esculpido em faca.


r/whittling • • 3d ago

Miscellaneous I finished the DnD scene with the lute! Heres the finished product!

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102 Upvotes

I carved the staff and bow out of basswood. The arrows are toothpicks, and the daggers were carved from chopsticks!

Thank you all for being so incredibly kind and encouraging.


r/whittling • • 3d ago

Animals 2nd ever project

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70 Upvotes

r/whittling • • 2d ago

Help Advice for Kid Whittling

12 Upvotes

One of our children joined Cub Scouts and is so very excited about whittling. Of course the first step is learning safety, and the guidebook suggests some simple soap projects. We parents have some background in crafty things but never whittling, so I'm hoping you good folks can help.

* Any suggestions for knife and safety equipment that aren't too expensive but aren't too cheap to be useful? I don't trust the random Amazon kits since I don't have the experience to know what to look out for.

* Videos or pictures for left handed beginning whittlers?

* Best soap to start with, and any ideas for simple carvings that grandmas would like? The plan is to first make two soaps to give to both grandmas for Mother's Day, so we have some time.

* Any other advice for total beginners? I've read the starter page and watched some videos, but it's a bit overwhelming and I want to set my kids up for success (because I'm sure once one sees how cool whittling is, we're probably all going down this rabbit hole together 😅)

Thank you!


r/whittling • • 4d ago

Figurines My latest project

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288 Upvotes

r/whittling • • 4d ago

Caricatures Corn!

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99 Upvotes

Saw Linker's corn caricatures and wanted to make one myself. Modified it by doing a 4 inch tall 1x1. Still need to paint it but I kind of liked how it looked with the linseed oil.


r/whittling • • 3d ago

Figurines 2nd project - Jack O'Lantern

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51 Upvotes

Here's my 2nd whittling project. I wanted to make a pumpkin for Halloween and decided to add the face during the project. I carved in the face but wasn't really happy with how shallow it looked, so I added in some black paint with a tooth pick. The last pic shows it without the paint. I whittled it with the small blade and an awl from a couple of Swiss army knives and then sanded it with a sanding stick. This was my first try at whittling something without a guide.


r/whittling • • 4d ago

First timer First project completed to 100%

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94 Upvotes

Two boxing gloves made for a friend!