Wood carving has been around for hundreds of years, and many people are fascinated by its unique charm. There are quite a few ways to turn an ordinary piece of wood into a beautiful looking wood carving. If you are a beginner in wood carving and you don't know where to start, then you can't afford to miss today's article! This article today will teach you how to choose the right wood for your carving.
The Basic Classification of Wood
Before choosing the right wood for your carving, you need to have a basic understanding of the wood used for carving. Wood can be categorised into many different types based on its different properties. The following is a description of how wood is classified according to different categories.
1. According to the hardness of the wood
By dividing wood according to its hardness or softness, wood can be simply classified into two categories, one is hardwood and the other is softwood. As the name suggests, hardwoods are the harder woods. If you want your carvings to be able to show more details, then hardwood is definitely the ideal choice for you. However, carving hardwoods requires a high level of carving experience from the carver. So, if you are a beginner carver, I suggest you can choose softwood as the material for carving so that you can get started as soon as possible.
2. Classify according to the grain of the wood
Wood develops its own unique grain as it grows. Sometimes, the grain of the wood will largely affect the final finish of the carving. The grain of wood can be broadly divided into two types, one is straight grain, that is, the grain on the wood is growing in one direction. There is also interlocking grain, which means that the grain on the wood is intertwined with each other and has no fixed direction of growth. If you want to compare the two types of grain, the wood with a straight grain pattern will be better for carving.
3. Classification according to the colour of the wood
There are many types of wood in the world that are suitable for carving, and the colours are all slightly different. But here we just divide the wood into two categories according to the depth of colour. One is dark and the other is light. However, the choice of dark or light colour depends entirely on your own requirements for your carving. If you want your carving piece to present a more layered effect, then you can go for a relatively darker coloured wood.
4. Cost of buying wood
The last factor that must be considered when buying wood is the cost of the wood. With the exception of a small number of rare woods, the price of most woods actually takes into account your area. If your area happens to be rich in the kind of wood you want, then the price must not be particularly expensive. On the contrary, you can need to invest more money to purchase the wood for carving.
Wood carving tools to share
Now that you have picked out the right wood, the next thing you need to do is to get yourself the right carving tools. Generally, if you are a beginner, you won't need too many carving tools, just the basics will suffice. If you later find that you need more carving tools, then it is not too late for you to buy them.
1. Carving knife
Carving knife is a necessary tool in the carving process, and it has many types, can help you carve out a variety of details. Here are a few examples of the most common types of engraving knives, such as V-type engraving knife, flat head engraving knife. You can go to the Internet to search for the relevant video to watch the specific use.
2. Chisels
Chisels and carving knives have different functions. Carving knives are suitable for realising different details on the carving tool. Chisels are used to remove large areas of engraving material. Of course, there are many different types of chisels, such as V-chisels and straight chisels.
3. Mallet
A mallet is usually used in conjunction with a chisel. Generally, if you are carving a particularly hard piece of wood, it is difficult to work the wood with just a chisel. So it is necessary to use a mallet together with a hammer.
4. Power tools
If you already have some experience in engraving before, you can choose to buy power tools to increase your efficiency. Here I can recommend you a brand with more than 20 years of production experience in manufacturing jewellery DIY production tools - Katway, you can pick up high quality jewellery making tools in this shop.
How to take care of engraving tools?
Now that you've picked the right engraving tools, how do you care for them to make them last longer? Next, we are going to discuss the maintenance of engraving tools.
1. Placement environment of tools
Most of the engraving tools are made of metal, so you need to place the metal in a relatively dry environment to prevent oxidation or rust.
2. Polishing engraving tools
Generally speaking, in the process of carving, carving tools will produce different degrees of wear. Carving wood with worn tools is not only more effort, but also may not be able to achieve a more ideal effect in the details. So, you can buy a sharpening stone or a more professional sharpener to keep your carving knives sharp all the time.
3. Oil your tools
If you buy a professional carving machine, you may need to oil your carving tools from time to time to prevent them from rusting or corroding.
Overall, wood carving is a special art form, from the choice of carving materials to the choice of carving tools have their unique doorway. The article mentioned only a small part of it, if you want to know more, you can enter our website to see more related articles, I believe that you will definitely gain!