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In over 25 years as a full-time wood carver, David Sabol has created life-like animals and birds, beautiful landscapes, festive Christmas ornaments, stunning storybook characters, and distinctive signs for business and historical sites. Now you can too - by following the tips, techniques and creative advice in Wood Carving Basics.
As a traditional craft that's survived for centuries, wood carving is something just about anyone can master - if you're willing to learn the basic skills. That's precisely what you'll find in this comprehensive volume from the guru of wood carving.
From simple to more sophisticated techniques, the book includes a broad sampling of creative projects - with step-by-step instructions and colorful photos that show you how to make each one a work of art.
The projects - designed to give beginners a working knowledge of many carving styles - become increasingly more challenging as you move through the book. Every piece you create will hone your skills for the projects that follow.
As you move from one chapter to the next, you'll learn all the valuable techniques you need to grow as a carver. After a while, you'll gain the confidence to try more complicated projects and experiment with pieces you've dreamed up yourself.
For anyone who wants to master the essentials, Woodcarving Basics is the perfect place to start. You'll learn how to:
- Select wood from a wide range of interesting types.
- Choose tools from knives and gouges to V-tools and power carving devices.
- Sharpen and care for your tools to improve performance and longevity.
- Relief carve wildlife and landscapes.
- Chip carve, power carve and burn wood.
- Paint and finish your carvings with colorful detail.
If wood carving sparks your desire to make something with your own hands - developing an artful touch and meticulous attention to detail - here's one book that delivers all the expert advice you need.
From the Introduction
I've been a wood-carver all my life, and have never had a job other than carving. I started when I was 8 years old with a pocketknife I pocketed from my grandmother's attic. I tried sharpening it on a stone birdbath in her backyard and slit my thumb open. A sharp knife, my first cut, and I was hooked!
My grandfather was a blade sharpener for the Remington Arms Company. My father gave me the old Remington knife I still have and taught me how to carve wooden ship models and balsa-wood airplanes. After a while, I tired of following other people's blueprints and started creating my own small animals and birds.
I began haunting flea markets and garage sales, looking for tools, boxes--anything to do with wood carving. I gradually expanded my practice work into larger birds and decoys, little flower pins, and Christmas ornaments. I started selling my work at local churches and village-green shows.
I turned my bedroom into a carving studio and began to devote all my time outside of school to my passion. Going to one show after another, I became close friends with all the other exhibitors. It was an enjoyable way to spend my youth.
When I graduated from college in 1983, I had already been around the show circuits, and I knew all the promoters and venues; it just seemed natural to pursue carving as a career and see where it might lead. It has been my full-time occupation ever since.
I've had many incarnations: I was a sign carver for a number of years, doing all kinds of wooden signs for businesses and historical sites. When bird carving reached a peak of popularity in the '80s, I gravitated to carving birds and spent about 10 years doing that. I learned to carve efficiently, and developed a lot of techniques for carving birds out of single pieces of wet wood (rather than gluing on feathers and wings and heads). I then moved into doing caricatures and when my son was born in 1990, started doing the storybook characters that some of you may have seen.
I guess throughout my life I wasn't interested in being categorized as a certain style of carver; I didn't want to be known as a duck carver or a caricature carver. I have a voracious interest in and love for it all - everything from relief carvings to figures to wildlife, signs, gunstocks, table legs - anything that would come along, I would say, "Yeah, I can do that," and I did it.
Over the years I have developed a vast back-ground in all styles and disciplines of carving. That is why I was really excited about this book and DVD project--through it I'm able to share my love of wood carving with others. The simple enjoyment of being able to relax, take a piece of wood and a knife, and create something with your very own hands is a rare pleasure in our frenzied culture.
I've put together a sampler of a broad variety of avenues that are open to you as you learn to carve. The projects are geared toward the beginner, but as you progress through the book, you'll gain the valuable skills and techniques you'll need to grow as a carver, experimenting with your own pieces. Every piece you do will hone your skills for the projects that follow. After a while, you'll gain the confidence to try things that you may have been hesitant to attempt at first.
Everything takes practice. I consider all of the pieces I've done throughout my life as practice pieces. Be open to letting pieces evolve as you work on them. Take things in this book a little further, or simplify them. Deviate from the design; let things happen. Sometimes spontaneity is the best inspiration - I get some of my best pieces out of things that started off as one idea and grew into something completely different.
If I were asked to list the three most important elements in carving, I'd say the first is an idea, the inspiration--what you want to carve. The second is a piece of wood; again, there are many choices. The third element is a sharp carving tool. Many people become frustrated when they begin carving because they feel they don't have the ability, when, in fact, their tools are not allowing them to create what they want to create. I have provided an in-depth section on sharpening to make sure your creativity isn't hampered by the lack of this easily learned skill.
Carving is a personal expression, a simple art form that goes back thousands of years. It's something you can share with your children and grandchildren. People always enjoy a handmade gift, something you took the time to create for them. And that's what this is all about - to help you create what you see in your mind and your heart. I hope you come to enjoy wood carving as much as I do.
I remember a 7th-grade biology teacher had a sticker on his door that said, "Free knowledge; bring your own container." Well here's the knowledge. Keep it fresh and use it often; you've got your own container.
About the Author
David Sabol is a traditional carver who has been working at the craft since he was eight years old. He has published six books on carving and teaches seminars across the country. David Sabol lives in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. |
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