Identifying the Wood Grain for a Better Carving- Whittling and Wood Carving tips for Beginners

[@CarvingisFun]

Links to where I buy my basswood: Air Dried Basswood on Ebay - ebay.to/3B8LhZM Premium Basswood from Treeline USA: treelineusa.com/basswood-practice-block-1/ Links to Ebay above are affiliate links, for more information click here: carvingisfun.com/affiliate-link-disclosure/ If you want to give me a gift as a thank you, you can send me some Pokemon cards! I've been collecting them since they came out and always enjoy getting new cards! You can use my Amazon Wish List to send me a booster pack or two :) www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1ZTOOLYLZ7C48

[@Rooster0529]

This video should take about 80 hours of the learning curve for new whistlers and carvers. Nicely explained.

[@gaiagreen2690]

Well, this is the kind of video tutorial any beginner loves - short, clear focused, precise, detailed, explained in an understandable way and leaving one with genuine, practical knowledge. This actually inspired me to pick up my tools and start carving again!

[@CarvingisFun]

I'm glad you found it helpful! I've been trying my best to stay on point and focus on just the video topic to help provide information to those seeking it :) Also happy to hear that you're getting back into carving again! always room for more to enjoy the hobby.

[@PaulAryzer]

INDEED. I'm a beginner and I encountered EXACTLY the situation shown. Explanations with examples are indeleble. Thank you very much.

[@mchlwllsnd]

I know nothing about carving, and I’ve never had an interest in it, but I love watching your videos. They’re so cool and interesting to watch.

[@billiejohopp1559]

I’m a new new beginner. So new that I have my knives but I’ve not used them. Thank you for explaining this to me. I found it very helpful. I’m going to hit that subscriber button.

[@whyisthisachannel]

I've been interested in whittling for years but never made the jump to do it. I found your channel last week and decided now was the time. I'm going through your beginner tips while waiting for my supplies to arrive. Thank you for putting so much clear information out!

[@colingavigan4704]

Really excellent, clear, jargon free, simply conveying the message video. So much information in such a short space of time. Very inspiring Brian! Please keep making these splendid videos! 👏🏻🧐

[@PhilippeLhoste]

Yes! I watched several wood carvers speaking about wood grain, but I wasn't able to find a good explanation about it, or how to use it / avoid it. Even a search on YT didn't reveal it, but it finally gave your video as a suggestion… Your explanation is useful, showing various woods grains, and more importantly, why to avoid going against the grain or how to deal with it. Thank you.

[@panjoper3535]

My English bad, but I try to explain what I mean. Thanks for your videos, really thanks. Your videos very informative, and very interesting. From Russia with respect

[@Oliver-ur5pi]

guys. LIKE THIS VIDEO! please. its short clear easy to follow and generally perfect

[@rrato11]

I was once making a handle from plywood, and the grains as we know are crossed, i didn't know that when i was doing it, and went against the grain, result it exploded because of the force i applied, knowing the direction is a simple thing but very important, great video,

[@CarvingisFun]

I didn't even consider carving plywood!! That would be very difficult to do!

[@theawecat27]

this was really helpful! i didn't understand what cutting against the grain meant in a few of the videos but this explained it well

[@bluedarkness7125]

Dragon? I love them. It will be interesting!

[@CarvingisFun]

Got dragons on my to do list!! Still in preliminary design phase.

[@unitytira4954]

This video instructions are excellent! It makes my carving fun and gives me wisdom and good results. Thank you so much for teaching great help!

[@brinkleysfield]

Great video. If I might add that sometimes when you have to cut into the grain it helps to do it with a shallow gouge going across the grain instead.

[@CarvingisFun]

Very true!! Thank you for your input :)

[@BespokeCarpentry]

Love these videos, definitely could watch a whole lot more. And really really like the carving tutorials

[@CarvingisFun]

Thank you!!

[@rockjock32492]

thank you again! Really appreciate helping me out as a beginner

[@TheLittlehopeful]

I have asked for some woodcarving tools and supplies for Christmas and I cannot wait! These video have been wonderful inspiration and informational! I plan on trying to carve a dog first. :)

[@CarvingisFun]

I hope you enjoy them! A dog is a great first project :)

[@sammy_sand_utubeyt6901]

Me too! I plan on carving an acorn first

[@paulbrown3975]

Very helpful and informative, I’m carving a ball in a cage and I’m at the point of rounding out the ball it is very tricky but knowing now to go top to bottom with the carving it will help with the tearing up of the wood( which has been happening) excellent video as always keep it up 👍

[@CarvingisFun]

Ball n cage projects are super fun! They teach ya a lot about working with the wood too.

[@gorking9458]

You are probably the most helpful person and I love your videos I wish you the best man

[@edwardrocca]

I've been watching a lot of your videos this past week, and yesterday I bought a starting kit of knives from beavercraft :). Thanks for inspiring me to get into this and I'm very grateful for all the content you've put out to help someone like me learn more about it!

[@CarvingisFun]

You're welcome!!

[@Anonymous-xe3kk]

Eee, I really enjoyed this! It really is simple, and I think you explained it in a way thats easy to understand.

[@CarvingisFun]

Thanks! I really tried to make it as easy to understand as possible.

[@videoking2468]

Thank you for these videos, they are very helpful. I always look forward to watching your videos!

[@CarvingisFun]

You are most welcome!! I enjoy making them.

[@tanuki88]

Just bought a beavercraft kit off Amazon looking forward to picking up a new hobby

[@llava302]

👋Hi there! I'm new here, but I love your videos. My favourite videos are the little decoration step by step guides that you make. I understand that they can be difficult to come up with, but I'm gonna start carving soon, and I'd love for there to be a bunch of small decorations I could make. I'm gonna start out by doing the ones you've already uploaded, but I'd love to see more.🤔 If you by any chance are hiding some decorations from us... DON'T!!!😤 Your work is engaging and relaxing. Please keep up the good work. 👍

[@CarvingisFun]

I have a whole list of em to show everyone!! More is on the way after this much needed holiday break.

[@llava302]

@@CarvingisFun that's very nice to know 👍😉

[@hughtempleton8640]

Great video thank you for sharing 😃

[@CarvingisFun]

You're welcome!

[@digocr]

Brian, what about carving green wood? I collected branches from many different fallen trees after a storm here. They are so wet inside my knife gets wet. Some people say they let drying for 1 year before carving, because green wood shrinks later and also you can’t see the flaws. But other people said green wood is the best because it’s softer! Which would be great because there is no basswood here, and I didn’t find the local soft wood for sale yet (caixeta), and also I find exciting to get a branch and carve it, specially from meaningful trees. Oh and there’s this professional carver somewhere that boils the wood for 1 or 2h before carving! And this guy who measures the humidity before carving aiming at 12% or something So should I dry the branches or not and how and why? 😂 I’m quite lost getting opinions from facebook groups and thought you would be the guy with the precise answer. Thank you!

[@CarvingisFun]

A precise answer eh? Well, my answer is it depends! Not exactly the response you were probably looking for but lets break it down a bit here. Beginners to intermediate carvers looking to make small hand made figures can benefit from either dry or wet wood in 2 different ways. Softer woods like basswood, softer pines, and even cherry can be carved dry and will be perfectly fine. The wood is dry (usually between 7% and 15% moisture) and remains consistent so there isn't an issue with rings drying at various rates and wont split later on down the road. Once you start getting into much harder woods, like the ones you see for spoon carving or just denser woods in general, you want to consider green wood if carving by hand as the higher moisture content makes it easier to carve. You will have to consider the risks of cracking with larger projects (bigger than the diameter of my arm or so) but I know some people cover the carving with a moist rag, between sessions and then hope it doesn't split later. Now, many professional carvers will do special things that benefit them **for exactly the type of carving they are use to doing** and wont always translate down to regular people. Some of it is personal preference to achieve the result they are after, others do it because they want every single factor to be in their favor and have trouble carving outside this bubble. Greenwood does provide a really nice benefit, even with the softer woods, you can make smoother, more intricate cuts with ease than when it was dried. It is a completely different experience that one should attempt with both options to see what they prefer. Now, to you drying the branches. I like to use the Janka hardness scale to determine what I am both capable and willing to carve. This also determines my tool selection too. Example, basswood (the stuff I use on the channel) has a Janka hardness of 410 lbf, and the hardest I am willing to do by hand is Walnut at 1010 lbf. Anything more than that will be a challenge when dry and I would prefer to hydrate the wood a bit more or use green wood. This is my favorite place to get the hardness rating from: www.precisebits.com/reference/relative_hardness_table.htm But in the end, it is 100% personal preference. On this channel, I promote using dried wood as it is 1) easier to acquire, 2) more consistent in quality (within the same company brand at least) and 3) doesn't have to be used within a specific time range for best results.

[@digocr]

This is gold! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge ❤

[@charliegirrl31]

My hero, thank you!!

[@CarvingisFun]

You're welcome!!

[@dylanbaker3889]

Great vid thanks

[@cchild61]

Exactly what I needed!

[@CarvingisFun]

Glad I could help!

[@cchild61]

@@CarvingisFun FYI - would love to see more videos like your fox tutorial. Easy to follow along and the detailed explanations really helped.

[@CarvingisFun]

They are in the works!! I plan on making more soon, they just take a good chunk of my time to plan, make, and edit. Its a good 15 to 20 hours per video to develop!

[@oferish_]

Could you explain how you determine its going left to right or right to left? because when u point out in the video which directions its going, i feel like i could interpret it backwards... im kinda confused

[@CarvingisFun]

Actually made this video on just that question kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKvEqndngbV_os0 But, right to left or left to right doesn't matter, basically its horizontal :)

[@hallelujahhomestead]

Can you make a beginner safety video geared towards kids? Covering topics like knife handling, blood bubble, triangle of death, and general safety measures? My 10 year old wants to start whittling and I want her to have a strong safety approach.

[@CarvingisFun]

I have thought about this but anything revolving around child safety has me nervous, and in my experience is best done by a respected mentor the child already knows. I'll have to keep this in mind but it may be a while before I make it. It needs to be planned out properly and made in such a way to be engaging and informative for a younger audience

[@hallelujahhomestead]

@@CarvingisFun Yes, I do my due diligence teaching my daughter, but I don’t know much other than the basics, especially in terms of specific whittling methods that are safe alternatives to a method that could cause injury. I am dedicated to learning these things myself in order to teach her, but haven’t found much on KZbin in this regard. Thank you for your response and for considering the video idea.

[@ScytherClaimed]

When is the next video coming???

[@CarvingisFun]

Working on it this weekend and should be out next week

[@cghhendrix2]

At 1:23 in your video, you show examples of grain going "left to right" but you don't explain how you know that. Why isn't it "right to left"? It would be helpful if you could explain the difference. Thanks!

[@CarvingisFun]

Sure! I would be happy to clarify. I know that sometimes I can be a little vague or accidentally leave something important out. Starting off, in this case, left to right and right to left are interchangeable. Lets think about it this way, imagine you are holding a handful of regular straight straws that are all aligned and pointing in the same direction. These straws represent the fibers of the wood, which is the wood grain. Some of these straws are also different colors or have a repeating pattern along them which will always lay in the direction of the straws direction The wood grain has some of these similar characteristics. Some layers of the wood will have lines or colorations that follow the same direction. If you look at that picture at 1:23, you will see 2 indicators, small horizontal dark lines all facing in the same direction and slight alternating wood colors (cream and light brown alternating from top to bottom). These indicators are like the straw example above and the wood grain flow in the same direction from left to right (or right to left, no real difference). Let me know if this helps!

[@cghhendrix2]

@@CarvingisFun Makes sense, thanks!

[@propblast82nd]

Have you ever cut a pine branch to carve ? Thanks for the great videos !

[@CarvingisFun]

I have, but most of the pine in my area are really sappy and I don't like handling them too much until they dry.

[@carlworld]

Wish you compared what it looks like for the wood grain to go away or towards you

[@CarvingisFun]

I shall keep this in mind, its a good visual to show.

[@emmi_figliruz]

Hi! I'm very new in this, I wanted to buy carving knives, but I cant find a leather strop in my country. Can you tell me any other thing or way for sharpening the knives?

[@CarvingisFun]

You can use 3000 to 6000 grit wet/dry sandpaper or thick cloth (like denim) with polishing compound

[@emmi_figliruz]

@@CarvingisFun thank you!

[@abhijoicesury2669]

Hey what is the best flexcut knife for beginners?

[@CarvingisFun]

I personally like their KN14 roughing knife for an all around whittling knife. It should take care of 99% of your whittling needs.

[@bolman125]

could you provide a link to the ebay seller you buy basswood from?

[@CarvingisFun]

Completely forgot to link that in the description, thanks for the reminder! Here is the link: ebay.to/3B8LhZM

[@bolman125]

@@CarvingisFun thanks very much!

[@mauricioruiz9021]

I really like your style of carving where you just draw lines on the wood and do the cuts. I suck at drawing so that makes it easier to me. But I don't know how to draw the lines on the wood to create my own shapes, is there a specific way to do so? Let's say I want to Whittle a turtle, how do I draw the pattern of lines on the wood?

[@CarvingisFun]

Thanks! I usually start off drawing by looking at the carving from a 2D perspective first from the side, then from the top, and then from the front. Doing it in stages allows for easy planning and visualiztion.

[@mauricioruiz9021]

@@CarvingisFun thx! I'd be glad if you could make a video teaching how to draw stuff for carving!

[@CarvingisFun]

Already being planned!

[@mauricioruiz9021]

@@CarvingisFun awesome!

[@wolfbrother95]

Hi I just got the beavercradt comfort bird carving kit and I'm having issues removing large amounts of wood smoothly. I have to push very hard for no results, my knife is sharp and I'm going with the grain. Please help

[@CarvingisFun]

Im actually going to be making a video on this one, but I can tell ya that the wood is slightly harder than what I typically use on my channel. My suggestion, take it slow and dont force large cuts. The knife that comes with the kit has a curved blade, which promotes sclicing. When you make a slicing motion rather than a straight push cut, it cuts through the wood a little easier and can allow you to remove large sections of wood quickly.

[@91DIMON19]

Крутые видео, спасибо !!! Топ контент!! Но почему так мало подписок и просмотров, и еще меньше лайков???

[@CarvingisFun]

They will come in time :)

[@91DIMON19]

@@CarvingisFun Желаю удачи в скорейшем росте канала минимум до 1 000 000 !! ;)

[@ryui3546]

Hi, can i do your beginner projets (like the fox) with a smaller piece of wood ?

[@CarvingisFun]

Yep, any size wood really. Just try n keep thr proportions the same

[@Scyrasis]

Hey im completely new to this. What are the things that are wrapped around your thumbs called? I NEED THEM

[@CarvingisFun]

Those are just self adhering ace wrap :) Its cheap and effective

[@Scyrasis]

@@CarvingisFun Thank you! My thumbs specifically have been on fire since I started so anything to padden and give me more safety is a blessing.

[@MariaMartinez-jb3zn]

🙏🏽👍🏽🙋🏻‍♀️

[@vipernight2]

Been watching your videos the last few days they have been very helpful and easy to follow thank you keep it up. I have been looking for a little set to get me going thats not too cheap but not costing to much either just to start off. I am thinking of getting a set called kg furniture on amazon. Wondering if you have used this one or if anyone has used this one and what they think off it and if its worth buying.

[@CarvingisFun]

I had to look a bit, but the ones I found looks like a rebranded cheap set. It's the same as all the other china made sets that everyone else sells. The steel quality on these sets are typically a hit or miss and on the few that I have purchased had chips in the blades or dull spots which required me to sharpen to be a decent set. Personally, I would bypass them and grab some Beavercraft tools. They may be a little more expensive, but are better quality and don't require sharpening out of the box.

[@vipernight2]

@@CarvingisFun Thank you for getting back to me so quick and checking them out for me.I think i will iinvest in some beavercraft ones then many thanks.

[@vipernight2]

@@CarvingisFun I call upon your knowledge once again.I have had a look around at beavercraft and think i found a good set its called the s17 set would that be a good set to start with. Also you where 100% correct in the cheap stuff the other half brought the set i was looking at as she fort i wanted it as it was in our amazon basket and i forgot to take it out after talking to you. It came today one came with a chip in the blade and the rest was dull like you said.

[@CarvingisFun]

The S17 kit is a great all around set and would be the direct replacement to the set you received in.

[@vipernight2]

@@CarvingisFun Perfect thanks once again.Dont worry that other set is already being sent back.

[@joaomarcosmartins3314]

I understand how to identify the direction of the wood graim, but still not understand whats is cutting "against" it.

[@CarvingisFun]

I should whip up an image to illustrate this better, but here are some pictures I found that will help show what I'm talking about a bit better. This is an image showing cutting WITH the grain. Note the direction of the wood grain and blade direction. www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/10CS-Cabinet-Scrapers-Sam/10CS04/10CS-4-11.jpg This is an image showing cutting AGAINST the grain. Notice the direction of the wood grain and blade direciton. www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/10CS-Cabinet-Scrapers-Sam/10CS04/10CS-4-12.jpg

[@97epicman]

Does the grain go left AND right? Or just left to right?

[@CarvingisFun]

left and right. Just think about it like you are holding a handfull of straws. its really about the same thing.

[@TheLegend-gj6bw]

4:02

[@SdrawkcabDelleps]

I'd love to see you carve a dragon

[@CarvingisFun]

Its on the list!! Just need to carve out some time for the projects ahead of it first :)

[@maevblog9955]

Do you want in a video whittle a deer🦌

[@whittler0507]

Good video and info ..Thank you

[@CarvingisFun]

Thanks Gene!!