How to make wood carve easier!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Learn tips and techniques to make wood carve like butter. I will tell you the basic steps necessary. Enjoy
If you want to check out products from this and my other videos you can find them with this link...
www.huntersmak...
Thank you very much for this video. No one has ever told me this, never seen this on any carving video. I mixed 50/50 water and alcohol in a spray bottle and it worked great. You have my Sub.
Thank you. I glad it helped.
Hello from Springdale, Arkansas.. Sam The Wood Carver here, Great video Steve I've been using 50/50 for over +45 years it works great no problems. Happy carving everyone keep on keeping on that is how you get better at carving.
Hi Sam. Glad you liked the video. I am doing some additional testing now for a follow up video. Stay tuned!
Best video ever. Learned so much in a short time!!!
Thank you for watching and the kind words
Thanks for the interesting and informative video on something I've had trouble with and that's strength in my hands. I'm just beginning...again! Ha. I used to carve years ago and found it to be very relaxing.
That's great that you are getting back into carving! I too, find it very relaxing. Thanks for watching!
Sir this was a great video. I am 63 yrs old newbie at carving but have started having problems with hand strength. This info will help a lot. Thanks. .
Thank you for watching. Happy carving!
I'm a 77 yo newbie. Thanks for the info. I subscribed!
Hello fellow carvers. I am an 84 year old "semi-newbie". I appreciate your tips very much. I realize I have been trying to carve wood that is too hard. I carved a mountain man out of cedar. I carved a Santa Clause using a wooden egg. After cuts and frustration, now I will start again. Thank you much!
Thank you
Thank you for the info Steve ..Good teaching and vital for learning ..Thanks for sharing
Thanks Gene. I have seen the question come up quite a bit and thought it was worth some testing.
Thanks for this! I have been using alcohol and water spray for years, but I have wondered about trying different solutions. Looks like I will stick with my spray bottle. Thanks again.
Thank you for watching and the comment. This topic is one that I have heard about in various places over the years and finally, curiosity got the best of me. I had to try them out.
Thanks for the comparison and good info!
Your welcome!. Thank you for watching.
Great video ,Thanks for sharing .❤
Thanks for watching, and commenting.
I love this so much, never seen this info anywhere
Thank you. Thanks for watching
Just watched on a whim and finally figured out why my woodcarving grandfather always had logs sitting in 5 gallon buckets of liquid, filled to the top. My grandmother said it was turpentine Awesome!
Thank you for watching. I haven't heard of soaking carving wood in turpentine...maybe I will have to test that in the future.
Thank you Steve great video new subscriber
Thanks for the sub!
Thank you for the video
You bet!
Thanks for this. I use mineral oil after carving and before painting. Will have to try soaking wood before carving and see how my knife responds. Nicely done! 40:33
Thank you for the feedback and thank you for watching.
Nice video. I store basswood blocks in a homemade humidor.
I use a plastic food storage container and double backed tape a sandwich baggie with holes on the inside lid. Then I place damp to moist paper towels in the baggie.
Give the block a couple squirts of water, just to jump start the process, and let sit a couple days before carving.
Thank you for watching and passing on the tip. What has your experience been with how much the moisture penetrates the wood? Is your process to let it sit in there for a few days, carve for a while and then place the unfinished piece back in for a while? I have thought about this as an option a few times but never pursued it. Thanks again!
@@S.Hunter I haven't had any problems with to much moisture. Just leaves the wood kind of soft. I return the piece back into the box between carving sessions. I also keep several blanks in it, just in case an inspiration smacks me in the forehead.
Excellent! You have to be prepared if something is screaming to find its way out of a block of wood.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
You're welcome! Thank you for watching!
I want a BSB knife…Steve I enjoy your videos…..
Thank you, I appreciate it!
Hi Steve, The Urban Woodsman uses a salve made from beeswax melted over heat mixed with mineral oil on all his carvings. the wax could be adjusted to suit the wood. Thanks for your videos.
Thank you for watching and commenting. I have a mixture of bees wax and mineral oil that I use on some of my carvings. It is a purchased product called Bee's Oil made by Holland Bowl Mill. It works well.
Thank you
You're welcome! Thank you for watching.
I wonder how glycerin would work, either by itself or as a mix. Great comparison test.👍
Good question. Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much for this, I was looking for something like this.
Recently while I was carving, I experienced that the wood split easily... Did the wood get too dry? Unfortunately, it is summer here and we get up to 40 degrees Celsius. The power goes off regularly, thus keeping anything temperature controlled is challenging - especially for wood to carve! Is it necessary to prevent the wood from drying out to much before carving? Do you have any suggestions I might use?
Thank you for watching and commenting. I love hearing from people from different places. It is hard to give you a solution without knowing what you might have available to you in your area. You could try experimenting with different sprays or soaking. I have learned that if you are using something that is water based, you don't want to soak it very long. If your soaking or spraying solution only penetrates into the outer layer of the wood and you carve it away, there isn't much risk of it cracking or splitting your wood.
Thank you, I will try that. @@S.Hunter
My question is if wood is soaked in oil can you only paint with oil paints?
Thank you for watching! I have been oiling my carvings prior to painting them with acrylic paints for quite awhile now, and it works out well. There are several oils that I have heard of people using. I used to use boiled linseed oil, but there can be a safety concern if don't properly dispose of any paper towels or rags that you use. I have been using an oil, and have shown it in several of my videos called TERRA NOVA NATUROIL and have found it to work nicely. While Naturoil works great it does cost more than mineral oil which is why for this video I used baby oil for my testing, it is cheap and easy to find.
I wonder if keeping your carving in a plastic bag in between carrying sessions. Use the water and alcohol spray. But store your work piece in a plastic bag.
I think that would be helpful. You could also store a damp paper towel in the bag with it. Thanks for the feedback.
The water makes since. We use to put oak lumber in the pond over night. It was a lot easier to use.
Thanks for watching.
Hi Steve. Thanks for the great & helpful videos. By mistake I found that cheese wax works great. Run blade through a piece I keep in the frig. ( ok don’t laugh) it seems to be working for me. Maybe lubricants the blade helps…. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Thank you for watching! That is an interesting idea. As I mentioned in the video, I think the lubrication aspect of the process is as helpful as the softening of the wood.
Maybe consider adding links to the places you suggest (for beginners not familiar). Just a thought!
Thank you for the feedback. Adding links is definitely something that I need to do a better job of.
You say that the alcohol and water makes your hands sting... Consider wearing a pair of latex examination gloves under your safety gloves. Also, here's an oil to try - castor oil. If you have slightly sore hands after a hard days carving try castor oil on your hands. Then use your oily hands to oil your work. Castor Oil is amazing for joint soreness.
Thank you for the idea.
Try olive oil, it works great for a finish, you can paint over it , and it will close checking cracks.
Thanks for the feedback
Please, details on the knife between the flexcut pelican knife and the dark (walnut) handled chisel
Thank you for watching! If I have the right one in mind, the one with a slightly tapered light colored handle with a slightly darker bit of wood just before the blade, that is one of my Helvie detail knives. I really like the look of it, and being a Helvie, it works great! When I ordered that one, I ordered it with a Dave Stetson handle in what they refer to as an economy wood. If that isn't the knife you are asking about, let me know and I will try again.
Thank you that is the one I am talking abouy. Cheers@@S.Hunter
Your welcome.
A tip I saw in a video is to smear a layer of common or garden wood glue over each cut end of the piece of wood. Just ordinary wood glue.
Interesting. Is that intended to slow drying? Thanks for watching and the comment.
I am allergic to petroleum so what can I use on my finished carving
Thank you for watching! As part of my painting process I apply a layer of oil and let that soak in awhile before painting, but you don't have to do that if you are concerned about using oil. I would recommend using either nice clean cuts or wood burning to define areas where you don't want your paint colors to mix then wetting your carving with water from a spay bottle prior to painting. Once your carving is completely dry you can use poly sealer to seal it up and keep it looking nice. You can choose the sheen of that sealer depending on your tastes, I prefer a flat or matte finish and avoid the shine. Hope that helps.
It would have been helpful to measure the wood moisture level before you started. I live in Colorado at about 5200 feet and low humidity. I have experienced significant splitting when the moisture is too low.
That's a good point. It didn't occur to me to do so. I suppose that could be another reason to soak or spray the wood prior to carving. Thank you for watching and the conversation, much appreciated.
try water and detergent, detergent is a wetting agent
Thanks for watching. Does it matter what type of detergent and what concentration?
@@S.Hunter detergent is a wetting agent and can be used to allow water in to inter things like wood you can find it in some dishwashing liquid
It's a 50-50 mixture of alcohol and water...
I'm just curious if you have tried different concentrations of alcohol to know if it makes a significant difference. In the video, I was using a mixture that I wasn't sure of the ratio. I vaguely remember mixing it up for another purpose, and I think it was approximately 25% alcohol. Thanks.
From what I know about it, mineral oil dosen't dry well. just my two cents.
That could be. I haven't really done any long-term testing with mineral oil. However, just the other day, I picked up a carving that I set aside close to a year ago. That carving had been coated with the terra nova naturoil that I typically use before painting. Aside was looking at the carving, I saw a couple things I wanted to change. I was pleasantly surprised how smooth and easy it carved after sitting for a year. It's an interesting topic for sure.