Guest column: Creative carving can be had

Do you get bored on the cold wintery days and wonder what to do to keep occupied? Maybe you should look at woodcarving as a hobby. You don’t need any special artistic ability to be a woodcarver. There is no age limit. It can be a lifetime hobby.

There are two carving clubs in our area. The Bloody Thumbs club meets in Sandstone. The one I belong to is the Knotty Carvers of the North and meets at the Proctor Area Community Center on the first Saturday every month from September to May from 9 a.m. to noon.

We also have a small group that meets on the fourth Friday to carve. About 30 people in our club come to have a cup of coffee, visit with friends and work on carving projects. The club sponsors an annual carving show on the last Saturday in October. Many of our members, and some from other clubs, display their carvings, and may sell them.

At the carving show there is a wide variety of carvings on display. You may find frogs, cows, horses, dogs, mice, elephants, birds, spoons, leaf dishes, Santas, many little figurines and other items. I like to display my manger scene with all of the figurines and animals that I carved for my oldest daughter. I gave her several figurines as a Christmas present each year until the project was completed. I built a little stable for them. I also like to display the log cabin I made for my eight little mountain people, along with several dogs. Another type of carving known as “chip carving” is also on display. Knives and small gouges are used to carve intricate patterns onto a flat piece of wood.

Minimal supplies are needed to start woodcarving. A sharp knife is required, along with a sharpening stone to put a sharp edge on your knife and a strop to keep it sharp. There are many stones available to buy, and the strop can be made from a piece of leather or something similar. I highly recommend a carving glove to protect your hands, and a thumb guard. Even the most experienced carver occasionally has a knife slip that may result in the need for a bandage.

A sharp knife is essential for carving. Vendors at our annual show have an assortment of knives for sale, along with some advice for beginners. One of our vendors also has wood to purchase. If you have access to the internet you can find carving knives for purchase. A number of catalogs feature carving tools and starting kits.

The most common kinds of wood used for carving are basswood and butternut. They are “soft” hardwoods that make for easy carving without splintering. Since butternut has a beautiful grain, you may not want to paint it, but instead use some type of finish such as polyurethane to bring out the grain.

Other woods are sometimes used, but are not as easy to work with. Thick cottonwood bark is often used to carve whimsical little houses. My grandfather used black cherry wood and a jackknife when he carved little horses for each of his nine children. He used real horsehair for the tails. Black cherry is a beautiful wood but is very hard. The little horses are now prized possessions.

To get started, you need a wooden blank, simply a block of wood large enough to accommodate the pattern of the object you wish to carve. Our club has numerous carving magazines with assorted patterns and instructions to choose from; you can borrow these magazines and use a copy machine to enlarge or shrink a pattern. The pattern is transferred onto the wood blank. A band saw, scroll saw or coping saw are needed to cut out the object. When you begin, you probably want to select something simple. When I helped my grandson get into carving, I gave him a small loon to start with to get used to using a knife. His next project was a little dog that required more complicated cuts. He is very proud of his first finished projects and is now selecting his own.

When your project is finished, you may want to lightly sand it. Then you are ready to either paint it or put some other type of finish on it. You may prefer to leave it in its natural state. If you wish to paint it, there are a number of acrylic paints available in small bottles at Walmart, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and similar stores. There is a wide range of paints to select from. If you desire, you can use watercolors. Some carvers also use a sealant such as beeswax or a spray-on sealer after they have painted it.

There are some expert carvers in our club who will help you get started. You will soon discover that everybody has their own carving style. Some are better than others, but it matters little as long you are satisfied with your finished project. Everyone is welcome to visit our meetings. Many people are willing to help you get started with a project. Our club has loaner knives for you to use and someone may have a wooden blank of wood to get you started. Woodcarving is a fun hobby that is not expensive. After you get started you will probably purchase additional knives as the need arises.

You will be pleasantly surprised at what can be created from a small block of wood with a little effort.

Al Alm is a forestry professor emeritus, and worked at the Cloquet Forestry Center on and off for three decades.