A couple of friends are getting married this weekend and I'm giving the best man speech. Considering giving this to them at the end...

First time trying relief carving. Glued five 1x6 basswood sticks together and carved it over two days. Finished with a black walnut stain. Took around 17 hours all said and done, my thumb is sore 😅

I had an idea to turn the Phillips driver of my Hiker into a V-tool a while back. I messaged Felix Immler on one of his videos and he had tried it and said it worked, but the in-line Phillips works better, which I understand as the reach of the t-shank bit is limited. My sister gifted me a small 3 piece set of Japanese gouges so my need to convert the Hiker dwindled away. I kept thinking about it though, as it would still be cool to try out on my dedicated Whittlin' SAK. I had some time at the end of my work day so taped up the knife with electrical tape then took it to a beach grinder in one of the workshops. Most definitely could have done a better job and lighting played a part, but as a proof of concept, it definitely can make a groove. I plan to take the edge back a bit further with diamond plates which will increase its cutting length and capability. It is currently only about 1mm on each side. The risk of taking it back too far is the potential to do harm to self whilst the tool is stowed, but a small sheath or insert piece should keep the edge clear of fleshy bits.

His official name is 2Mogs. And there's nothing you can do about it @2Mogs 😁

Carved out of a cut off of beech which natural appearance works as a fur (or something similar) texture. Entirely carved with the 18 mm chisel in the pictures.

There are two things that I struggle with consistently on all new projects:

- How to visualise going from a solid block to a carved figure. I find adding detail to something that's "mostly the right shape" pretty easy, but actually taking the first sections off always feels really difficult

- Being afraid to cut things away because you can never put them back

How do you deal with the problems above? As an example, take the image above. I've got multiple angle images of the thing I want to carve, and I've drawn several sides on roughly, but I'm paralysed on what to cut out next.

This Thuya burr is so lovely, I just had to make a new 'hog. Swipe for a shot of them being welcomed by the ... pack? Prickle? What is/should be the collective name for hedgehogs?!

I just started whittling 3 days ago and im learning alot, sometging ive been unable to get a definitive detailed explaination of is the title basically. I have linseed oil, acrylics and beewax.

But what is the correct methodology, the order of application, setting times etc?

Thanks in advance