5 Woodcarving Cuts for Beginners

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The first step into a new craft can be overwhelming: Where to start? What tools to buy? What projects to begin with? Thanks to author and internationally acclaimed woodcarver Chris Pye, “Chris Pye’s Woodcarving Course & Reference Manual: A Beginner’s Guide to Traditional Techniques” is filled with everything a beginning woodcarver needs to know. 
The first step into a new craft can be overwhelming: Where to start? What tools to buy? What projects to begin with? Thanks to author and internationally acclaimed woodcarver Chris Pye, “Chris Pye’s Woodcarving Course & Reference Manual: A Beginner’s Guide to Traditional Techniques” is filled with everything a beginning woodcarver needs to know. 
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Running cuts are a great technique to clear out the background in a relief carving. 
Running cuts are a great technique to clear out the background in a relief carving. 
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A scoop meeting a stop cut creates a thumbnail. 
A scoop meeting a stop cut creates a thumbnail. 
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To begin a sweep cut, keep the corners of the tool clear of wood. 
To begin a sweep cut, keep the corners of the tool clear of wood. 
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Drop the handle a little and move the edge along as you rotate. 
Drop the handle a little and move the edge along as you rotate. 
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Begin a slicing cut with the corners clear of the wood. 
Begin a slicing cut with the corners clear of the wood. 
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Drift the edge over the wood to complete the slicing cut. Do not rotate the handle. 
Drift the edge over the wood to complete the slicing cut. Do not rotate the handle. 

Jump-start your woodcarving with simple, traditional techniques that beginners can learn to start transforming wood into beautiful works of art. Chris Pye’s Woodcarving Course & Reference Manual (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2012) is a guide to getting started. In the following excerpt, Pye gives instructions for seven cuts that form the basis of the woodworking craft.

You can purchase this book from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: Chris Pye’s Woodcarving Course & Reference Manual: A Beginner’s Guide to Traditional Techniques.

In your hand is a sharp and well-shaped carving tool. You hold it in a safe grip that will let you carve with confidence and facility. Now you want to make things happen — but how exactly? What can you make these tools do? Well, a lot more than most newcomers think!

Here’s a learning-the-guitar analogy: After you have understood tuning (sharpening) and how to hold the guitar (grips), I imagine our guitar teacher would probably have you plucking strings. You would just play around lightly in a relaxed way, getting a sense of how the guitar works and the notes and chords you could make. So, before turning to woodcarving projects — our tunes proper, so to speak — I want to look at what we can call the outcome of the tool, the sort of notes you can play with a gouge.

Gouge Tools Needed

  • Published on Oct 19, 2012
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