9yo daughter looking for inspiration

[namtrak]

My 9yo has come home with a project to make something they have never tried before and to document the process over the next 2 months. In her wisdom, and obviously inspired by her highly skilled and artistic dad :rolleyes: , she has decided to create something through woodcarving.

So far she has come up with the idea of working with soap first to get practice and that's about it. She has started to go through all my woodworking books to see if she can find some inspiration.

Are there any suggestions for woods to use? I'm thinking something that has a hardness somewhat less than Penda, and something more than balsa wood.

Any suggestions on using handtools as opposed to a Dremel?

Any suggestions in general?

Cheers

[echnidna]

Radiata pine is cheap and carves easily with sharp chisels and gouges.
It could be whittled with appropriate knives

An approprite project might be a potstand etc.
e.g. A piece of 12mm pine cut out to a suitable outline such as an animal silhouette with a hand coping saw. Followed by some a little bit of light relief carving for character.

[dan_tom]

Hi Mick

It's a hard project! I actually bought some chisel attachments for the angle grinder and found that my first carving project was much easier with those to slice through the timber like butter. In comparison, I tried my hand with the abortech carver (wheel like attachment with twisted teeth) and it was much harder to control. There were bits of wood flying everywhere and my wrists were not strong enough to really control the direction/angle I wanted to achieve. Maybe I am a girl with weak wrists and your 9 yr old might be better at it. As a first go, I would opt for the chisel attachments and leave the grinding wheel for later. Don't forget to slip on a pair of safety glasses!

Cheers
Dan

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Huon Pine. The cheddar cheese of wood. :)

If she practises on soap, the huon pine won't be that different to carve and she'll probably enjoy the scent. IMHO it's the nicest wood to learn hand carving on... tools should their edges longer and, where her skills fail, a bit of 120grit will clean up nicely. ;)

[gatiep]

Jelutong, carvers favourite......soft, light, relatively cheap............used by many carvers.

[schaf]

The Bob Thomas advice is good.Keep it simple,nice slow hand tools a couple of small chisels for detail and the 9yo will have a ball.(plus a good report card).
Regards Terry.

[backpack]

I know this is a woodwork forum, however......

I suggest that you start your daughter off with soapstone. It is available in craft stores. I remember that my first attempt at carving was in school with soapstone.

After leaving school I purchased several pieces of soapstone that I carved and are still on display in my home today. Soapstone is easy to carve and you are able to carve with relatively simple tools.

In some respects carving soapstone at a younger age has probably lead me to carving in wood at a later age.

Good Luck with the carving.