Types of wood for carving, carving tools, and techniques for carving wood

The stalls of Amiens cathedral were perhaps the finest in the world at the beginning of the 16th century. The cresting employed, though common on the Continent, is of a kind hardly known in England, consisting as it does of arches springing from arches, and decorated with crockets and finials. The tabernacle work over the end seats, with its pinnacles and flying buttresses, stretches up towards the roof in tapering lines of the utmost delicacy. The choir stalls (the work of Jörg Syrlin the Elder) in Ulm Minster are among the finest produced by the German carver.

• High, on the top of which rested a loft, i.e. a platform rood about 6 ft (1.8 m).
• The pilasters at the sides, and small raised panels carved only on the projecting part, would compose a very harmonious whole.
• The art and craft of woodcarving continue to survive as demonstrated by the large number of woodcarvers who continue to practice and advance the tradition around the world.
• The doors are made up of a large number of small square panels, each minutely carved with a scene from the Old or New Testament.
• It is essential to start with simple projects and gradually work your way up to more complex designs.

Softwoods like basswood, aspen, and butternut are popular choices for beginning carvers. Because they’re softwoods, these 3 are easier to cut than hardwoods. Butternut is a little heavier than basswood and aspen are, and it has a more noticeable grain. However, all 3 are easy to mark and known for their relatively straight grain. This sub is dedicated to the art and technique of carving wood, not designing objects which are made of wood. We don’t accept CNC, laser cutting or AI generated carvings.

In the Copenhagen Museum there are panels from Iceland in the same style. In these early days the leaf was not much developed in design. The carver depended almost entirely on the stalk, a style of work which has its counterpart in Burmese work of the 17th century.

Using the whittling technique, you can turn a piece of wood into a beautiful wooden art object with an intricate design; the knife leaves sharp, textured marks, emphasizing the natural color and pattern of the wood. Gouges and chisels are the usual tools for relief carving, often accompanied by a mallet to drive the tools into the wood. You’ll also need clamps or a bench-top vise because the flat wooden workpiece needs to be solidly secured. During the 16th century many good examples were produced those priestly statues in the museum of Sens for example. But the figure work used in the decoration of cabinets, etc., seldom rose above the ordinary level. In the 18th century cherubs heads were fashionable, and statuettes were sometimes carved in boxwood as ornaments, but as a means of decorating houses wood sculpture ceased to be.

It is quite plain but for a little angel kneeling on the top, with its hands clasped in prayer. But the most beautiful form is the massed collection of pinnacles and canopy work, of which there is such a fine example at Sudbury, Suffolk. It was not uncommon to carve a dove on the topmost pinnacle (Castleacre, https://bestwoodcarvingtool.com/best-wood-for-carving/ Norfolk), in allusion to the descent of the Holy Spirit. The finest font in England is undoubtedly that of Ijiford, Suffolk. In height, arid when the panels were painted with saints and the exquisite tabernacle work colored and gilded, must have been a masterpiece of Gothic craftsmanship.

In Denmark an ornament in the form of a large circle sometimes takes the place of the English poppy-head. In the Copenhagen Museum there is a set of bench ends of the 15th century with such a decoration carved with coats of arms, interlacing strap-work, etc. But the old 15th-century bench end did not depend entirely on the poppy-head for its embellishment.

Large grained paper with a rougher surface is used first, with the sculptor then using finer grained paper that can make the surface of the sculpture slick to the touch. Basic wood carving techniques require a few essential tools such as carving knives, gouges, chisels, and a mallet. Additionally, you may need sandpaper, a sharpening stone, and a clamp to hold the wood securely.

No country in Europe possesses roofs to equal those of England created in the 15th century. The great roof of Westminster Hall remains to the present day unique. In Norfolk and Suffolk roofs abound of the hammerbeam class; that at Woolpit, Suffolk, achieves the first rank of quality. Here, too, as at Ipswich and many other churches, there is a row of angels with outspread wings under the wall-plate. This idea of angels in the roof is a very beautiful one, and the effect is much enhanced by the coloring. The roof at St Nicholas, King’s Lynn, is a magnificent example of tie beam construction.

The trusses are filled in with tracery at the sides and the centres more or less open, and the beams, which are crested and embattled, contain a row of angels on either side. In Devon, Cullompton possesses a very fine semicircular ceiling supported at intervals by ribs pierced with carving. Each compartment is divided up into small square panels, crossed by diagonal ribs of cresting, while every joint is ornamented with a boss carved in the decorative way peculiar to the Gothic craftsman. The nave roof of Manchester cathedral is nearly flat, and is also divided up into small compartments and bossed; the beams are supported by carved brackets resting on corbels with angels at each base. In Scandinavian countries we find some very early work of excellent design, both Christian and Non-Christian in nature, as “The Christening” in that part of the world took place quite late in the first millennium CE.