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From the Wooden Smile workbench
Learn the tools, understand the wood, and find something you want to make. Explore practical guides and carving projects from the Wooden Smile workbench.
The tutorial library
Build a skill or choose your next project. Each topic has its own place to start.
39 guides
Choose your tools and wood, learn safe knife control, and plan your first project.
Getting started
Start with the tools your first carving actually needs. This guide explains a practical starter setup, how to choose and fit a vise and saw, and how to cut a small outline without losing the wood needed for shaping.
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Getting started
Choose a whittling knife for small wooden figurines by comparing blade shape, size, handle comfort, steel, and edge geometry. Practical examples from our carving work show what to look for and which tradeoffs matter.
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Getting started
The right wood depends on the shape you want to carve and the tools you use. See how balsa and basswood respond under hand tools, compare alternatives, and check an individual block before buying or cutting it.
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Getting started
Before you draw a figure on a wood block, check how its fibers will run through the shape. Follow the grain across different faces, compare thin-part layouts, and learn when a small test cut calls for a change of direction.
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Getting started
Choose wood carving gloves for fit and control, understand cut-resistance labels, check for damage, and practice safer blade paths and work support.
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Getting started
A carving knife may need a quick strop, finer honing, or repair. Learn to read the edge, preserve its bevel, and check your progress in wood, with guidance on curved knives, gouges, and V-tools.
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Getting started
Learn how to whittle with a practice block: choose your starting tools, control push, pull, and stop cuts, read the grain, and check your progress.
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Getting started
Choose your next small carving by its shape, tools, and difficult details, then follow a practical route from the first drawing to a finished gift.
Read guideBuild a figure from the first drawing through shaping, details, and finishing.
Carving techniques
Turn an idea into a drawing that fits your wood block. Choose a reference method, work through proportions and clothing landmarks, compare two layouts, and keep the views aligned as carving removes the guide lines.
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Carving techniques
Turn a marked block into a figure with readable head, body, arm, and leg masses. This project follows the rough shaping stage, with checks that help preserve the wood needed for later details.
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Carving techniques
Develop a small figure’s head by preserving the nose, placing the ears, and shaping the jaw and hair. The worked example uses broad face planes and a side part, with frequent checks from neighboring views.
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Carving techniques
Develop the body and clothes of a figure with one hand in a pocket. Learn how the arm, coat edge, vest, collar, and folds meet, then recheck the pose before the final small cuts.
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Carving techniques
Choose which tool marks to keep, prepare the surface, and follow a clear or painted finish through coating and drying. Includes checks for small details and common finishing problems.
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Carving techniques
A drawing mistake left this basswood figure without enough room for one arm. See how a separate wooden piece restores the shape, with practical checks for choosing the repair, preparing the fit, gluing, and finishing.
Read guideFollow complete carving projects for bears, pets, and other small animals.
Animals
Make a waving polar bear with a saw-cut basswood blank and a carving knife. Follow the layout and shaping through 20 step-by-step GIFs.
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Animals
This small bear project uses six shared height guides and a side-first cutting sequence to preserve the lowered head, long arms, and two feet.
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Animals
Make a small cat with a raised tail. Start with a reference and aligned drawings, then shape the legs, body, and face before painting.
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Animals
Turn a wood block into a small cartoon puppy, using a front drawing, side shaping, and simple white-and-black facial details.
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Animals
Follow seven stages of a fox carving, from a divided side-profile drawing to a rounded face, body, rump, and raised tail.
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Animals
A short rabbit-carving project built around a long-eared figure in a coat, with drawings, a rough cutout, and finished views.
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Animals
Make a small bird with a rounded body and carved wing feathers. Learn where to align the drawings, retain wing thickness, and refine the underside.
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Animals
A digital toucan design becomes a small carving. Study the outline and the four areas where changes in depth give the bird its form.
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Animals
Use side, top, and end views to plan a small crocodile carving, retaining material for the eyes, back, feet, and tail.
Read guideCarve mushrooms, small natural forms, and seasonal designs.
Nature & seasonal
Carve a wooden mushroom with a tilted cap, textured surface, and gills. Follow the saw, knife, and gouge steps from layout to a finished character.
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Nature & seasonal
Shape a wooden carrot, leaf cluster, and small base from one block. This project uses simple rounded forms and a few carved texture lines.
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Nature & seasonal
Make a heart-shaped wooden tree from a 5 × 5 × 10 cm basswood block, with an integral trunk and solid round display base.
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Nature & seasonal
Use a downloadable front-and-side pattern to lay out a snowman bear with a hat and scarf. Follow the photographed saw cuts, then use the written shaping checks and simple painting directions to finish the figure.
Read guideExplore portraits, people, and familiar characters in wood.
Figures & characters
Work through the decisions that turn a drawn block into a small painted character. Several workshop examples show how to compare the larger forms, refine hair and clothes, and choose a surface treatment.
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Figures & characters
Turn a person’s hairstyle, outfit, and accessories into a small carved interpretation. This long-haired figure shows how front and side drawings guide the body, collar, and shoulder bag as the shape develops.
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Figures & characters
This advanced couple project follows two coordinated figures through layout, body shaping, clothing details, and color. The dress and suit need different profiles while the scale and pose keep the pair together.
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Figures & characters
Follow a young character from its rough outline to an unpainted figure with swept-up hair and boots. The main lesson is to develop neighboring views together while preserving the volumes that give the pose its shape.
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Figures & characters
Follow the drawings and carving demonstrations to shape a wooden Totoro figurine for your shelf or a handmade gift.
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Figures & characters
Make a Wall-Nut carving with a rounded body, raised eyes, and a few textured grooves. Follow the main shaping and painting stages in short animations.
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Figures & characters
Combine Mickey Mouse’s face and ears with a simple rounded body, using front-view guides and careful side checks to preserve the small details.
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Figures & characters
Use Bojji’s six horizontal reference lines to keep the face and clothing aligned as a drawn block becomes a small three-dimensional character.
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Figures & characters
Make a matching pair of Fireboy and Watergirl carvings using large heads, small bodies, and simple painted expressions.
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Figures & characters
Follow the main stages of a Squidward carving, with close attention to facial proportions, crossed arms, and the arrangement of the four feet.
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Figures & characters
This dragon-head carving sits above a small child’s body. Follow the project’s guide lines, rough shaping, and second drawing of the head decoration.
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Figures & characters
An advanced Goku carving study showing the T-shaped blank, layered hair, narrow neck, clothing details, and painted finish.
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