The Weekend Hobby Thread (5/18/24) Presented by TRex

Welcome hobbyists. Do not adjust your interweb. A spin of the Ace of Spades “wheel of hobbies” has come up with wood carving and whittling.

Revealing shapes hidden in blocks of wood. Wood carvers use a wide variety of tools, such as knives, chisels, and saws. Wood carving is different than whittling. Whittling purists use only a hand-held tool -primarily a very sharp knife.

Do you work with wood? Are you a carver or a whittler? Do you have favorite projects? Favorite tools?

Favorite woods? Do you have no talent or aptitude but appreciate the woodland labor of others?

Have you traveled to places known for wood working? Come forth with your stories of wood carving and whittling.

As usual, keep this thread limited to hobbies. Politics and current events can wait for other threads.

Beware of falling knives.

Top photo:
The Erzgebirge region of eastern Germany is south of Dresden and tucked against the Czech border. The Ore Mountains were known for tin and silver mining. With ample softwood forests, the miners whittled and carved wood. When the mines ran dry, wood crafts became a vocation rather than a hobby. Nutcrackers were born in this region.

The small town of Seiffen is the epicenter. Workshops turn out a wide variety of decorations, toys, creches, and home goods. One is the Spanbaum – also known as shaved trees, chip trees, carved trees and curled trees. See how they’re made:

You may know the Bavarian town of Oberammergau for the passion play, put on every ten years.

The village is also very well known for centuries of wood carving.

The carving craft has been at home in the region for over 500 years, and many sources cite the monasteries in the surrounding area as the origin of the carving art.
Around 1520, an outstanding Herrgotts carver in Oberammergau was first mentioned by a chronicler in the nearby Ettal monastery. In 1563, the Oberammergau carvers received their own craft regulations from the abbot of the monastery.

Are you a beginner in the world of whittling? Doug Linker’s Youtube channel has many videos on whittling projects and skills. He has a series specifically on 1X1 blocks and says carving Easter Island heads is a good way to get started:

One flavor of whittling is whimsy. These are fun, small-scale sculptures with movement.

Ball in a box:

Chain (with a little power tool help):

Meme Interlude

Spoon carving has many, many forms. If you can imagine it, it can be carved. Some focus more on carving the entire spoon, while others focus on decorating the handles.

8 Things Efficient Spoon Carvers Do

5 Mistakes Beginner Spoon Carvers Make

The Scandinavian art of Kolrosing – tattooing wood. Kolrosing is often used to decorate spoon handles, but can be applied to anything with a wooden handle.

Harley Refsal is an internationally recognized figure carver, specializing in Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving. His biography is remarkable and he’s taught thousands of carvers. Profile here:

“TRex, what about carving wood with chainsaws?” More power?!! Got ya covered. Video from the 2022 US Open Chainsaw Carving Championship:

Chisels, gouges and other similar tools all require handles. Can you make custom handles to fit your taste and comfort? Yes, you can. There are numerous websites and videos on this topic, but this video got chosen for the thread due to the amazing collection of chisels and storage cabinet:

Thanks much to JTB for the inspiration and brainstorming. The horde has many talents, interests, and experiences. If woodworking isn’t your thing and you can’t find something in the content that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We’ll feature a different hobby next time around.

TRex deserves a big thank you for stepping up to help the Weekend Hobby Thread to move forward while Mr. JJ Sefton and I are on the Injured Reserve list. If you have something relating to hobbies, projects, Jenkins Green Acrylic paint, 20/0 fan brushes, #6 Filbert brushes please forward to petmorons at gmail dot com.

posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 05:30 PM

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