Whittling is perhaps the simplest form of wood working. It can be done with only a carving knife. For beginners interested in whittling as a hobby I recommend getting at least one quality knife. It should be sharp and kept sharp throughout the carving. I recommend getting a detail knife, these knives usually come to a fine point which allow you to get into tighter spaces.
What the video to see the ways I hold my whittling knife to make a cut.
Once you feel comfortable enough holding the knife feel free and try to carve a small figurine. In this video I show you how to carve a little bunny. Part 1 shows you the roughing out process.
In part 2 I show you how to carve the details using the same knife.
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Center finders!
One way to find the center on round or square stock is by using center finders such as these. They are pretty simple to use and they can be purchased or made out of wood. On square stock you simply place them flush against you stock. Mark with pencil or knife. Center can be found where the lines intersect. I prefer to mark on all four side to ensure accuracy. If you find that after marking four sides that your lines make a small rectangle. It means your sock was not square but you now you can get extremely close to center since the small area between your line is your center. Sometimes after marking you finds a small square in the middle this is most likely due to the thickness of your marking tool and the offset that happens when you mark.
Finding center on round stock is similar to square except you would mark three intersections. And the are where the lines converge is your center. As shown in the image. This is extremely helpful when mounting your stock on to the lathe. Play the video below for a demonstration of using this on square and round stock.
Finding the center of a board can be done many ways. The most fool proof way I’ve found is by using a dedicated center finding ruler. No math required simply measure the board and find the correlating measurement on the bottom half of the ruler and you’ve found it.
Sometimes you may not have way to find center using traditional means. In this video I am gluing up for a segmented turning and need to make sure it’s as close to the middle as possible. Since there is no way to use a divider and this isn’t a perfect circle I show you an easy method using just your finger and a pencil.
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