Thread: First go at carving

Boy AJ... you sure know how to ask a question! Not sure I can do as well with an answer though. Your Arbortec gear should see you past the 'roughing out' stage. It will depend on what bits you have as to how far the dremel will take you. They tend to be a bit underpowered for serious work but for a one-off, you might get away with it.

Can't see how you are going to get away with no chisels or knives unless you elect to adopt a more impressionist style rather than true to life but others may have some thoughts on that.

Under the circumstances, I'd advise contacting a club in your area and going along once to see some techniques put into practice at the very least. Its vastly more effective a learning experience if you can watch someone work for a while. You can get some info out of a book but its static and I don't think books can convey the detailed info that watching someone can convey.

If a club isn't possible perhaps someone can suggest a book or two or even a DVD for you. This site has a lot of great materail available. You might try browsing it to see if there is anything you think might help.

www.skillspublish.com.au/Skills%20Bookshop.htm

Good luck with it all. I'll be interested to hear/see how you get on.

Google "drawing torso", "carving torso", "torso tutorial" and you will find plenty out there. Its on my to do list as well but Im gonna play with me nuts 1st.

Thanks Fellas
I was thinking of doing the first one in an impressionist style , that way I don't have to be too accurate with the details. I have some nice pieces of Camphor Laurel which I will try. I'll let you know how it goes when I get a round tuit.

with the tools you have it can be done easy you can easy use one of turning chisels just make it sharp

you will need to do the nicer work with the dremel

Just be real careful of the dremel Ive burned out three of them

Originally Posted by AJ

. I would like to try and carve either a male or female torso

Hi AJ
I posted "figure carving WIP" some time ago,
do a search on that might help, (not sure how to post the link)

Here's the link to the aforementioned WIP shots:

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f10/fi...wip-2-a-89323/


Josh

Originally Posted by AJ

Thanks Fellas
I was thinking of doing the first one in an impressionist style , that way I don't have to be too accurate with the details. I have some nice pieces of Camphor Laurel which I will try. I'll let you know how it goes when I get a round tuit.

im starting to carve aswell, where did you buy your timber from, im from the bayside area (cleveland) any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Josh

Over tyhe years I've scrounged timber from all over the place. Once your friends know you are after timber, youy get5 some calls. I also had contact with the local tree fellers and they would let me know when they were felling camphor laurels etc and I would meet them at the site. Woodshows are also good.

oh right, yeah i got a couple mates who could help me out, im prety good mates with ken wraight, he might be able to help me out