Finding the Right Wood Size for Carving Wooden Gifts
In this blog post we will teach you what size of wood block to choose for carving wooden gifts, and we will use a lovely wooden figurine of a mushroom as an example to teach you in layman's terms what conditions and principles to base your handling of the wood block on. The mushroom has a simple shape, which makes it suitable for beginners as a practice object, and in the process, you will become more skillful in the use of tools.
When we start carving wooden gifts, the first problem we encounter is what size block to use. The size of the wood block you use is generally determined by the size of the piece you want to carve. But conversely, the size of the wood block will also affect the size of that piece.
For example, if we are carving this mushroom today, we can find countless mushroom shapes on the internet. As you can see in the picture, there are round and slender mushrooms. Choose a style you like; it is best if it comes with a three-view. If you can't find a three-view mushroom and just have a front view, it doesn't bother us to carve a wooden gift. Because of the relative simplicity of the mushroom shape, there is little difference between the front and side views, and the top view of the mushroom is basically a circle. Since the top view is a circle, we can find a block of wood with a square cross-section so that we can make a circle with the same diameter.
As for the length of the block, you can cut a long block shorter than you can lengthen a short one, so the choice is made by first determining the size of the cross-section square, then the length of the block, and the combination of the two will be the size of the piece you will be carving.
Sometimes we come across situations where the block is not of sufficient size, for example if you only have one flat block but you still want to make a thicker piece, you can splice it with two blocks, by gluing them together using woodworking glue. However, it is not recommended to glue on the cross section of the block, because it will not be easy to join the two blocks together when they are glued on the cross section of the block.
After choosing the dimensions of the wood, you can draw. First, we look at the picture of the mushroom we want to carve, measure the widest and longest parts, then use a ruler to draw auxiliary lines on the square to mark the parts to be cut off.
When you have drawn the first auxiliary line, a situation arises at this point where you find a picture that may only have the front side, which requires some skill and imagination. We will share our tips on making these wooden gifts in the next post.
