Wood Craft Ideas for  Beginners

Relief wood carving

One way to enjoy wood crafts without taking up a lot of valuable household space, and busting your budget is to take up relief woodcarving. Woodcarving can be a bit messy, so a designated work area is advisable But this area need not be large. Indeed, a small worktable in a garage, basement, or utility area is about all that's needed.

A minimum of tools are required for this hobby. Two or three Xacto type knife handles, an assortment of blades, some sandpaper, wood sealer, graphite or white transfer paper, and a pattern are all that's needed to get started. Other materials required are common household items, such as scissors, cellophane tape, and ball point pen. Later on you can add paints, brushes, and other items needed for more advanced carving projects.

Relief wood carving is easy to learn you simply draw the picture and trace on to your chosen piece of wood. The tools mentioned are ideal for the beginner because they do not need to be sharpened. Merely discard the blade when it gets dull and replace with a new one. The two or three different types of handles will hold all the cutting and carving blades you will need . Xacto manufactures dozens of different blades for a myriad of uses, including chisels, knives, gouges, and routers.

There are six different basic cuts in relief wood carving. Using these cuts the hobbyist methodically carves out the design. Basswood is the wood of choice for the beginner, as it carves very easily. Later on, as techniques are improved, harder woods can be worked. Walnut Hollow Farm has an excellent beginner's book - Creative Woodcarving - which covers tools, techniques, and patterns in greater detail. Xacto's Woodcarving Video is also a good source of carving information.

Prepare the wood by sanding to a smooth finish with a fine grade of sandpaper. after sanding, the pattern is transferred to the wood with graphite or white transfer paper. Use graphite paper for light woods, and white transfer paper for dark woods. Tape the pattern and transfer paper to the wood with masking tape. Trace the pattern on the wood with a fine point pen.

The working surface for carving should be sturdy and at a comfortable height for the carver. It is important that the tools be sharp for all phases of the carving project . If tools are dull, it will cause the carver to try to force the tool through the wood. Injury is possible if the tool slips. Dull tools also tear the wood, instead of cutting it. By using Xacto tools, the hobbyist can maintain sharp tools by merely changing the blade.

The hobbyist can create some really beautiful projects by combining woodcarving and wood burning. The pattern is first carved and sanded. Replace the pattern and transfer paper on the carving, and trace in the details to be burned into the carving. Highlight key features with the wood burning pen, and apply a coat of wood sealer to protect the design. The hobbyist may also use paint or stain to add a flair to the carving.

Relief wood carving is a wonderful hobby. And you don't need a large expensive workshop to create some fantastic works of art with a little practice. This is a great craft for the beginner!

Making Wooden Toys

Old-fashioned wooden toys are wonderful gifts both for children from one to ninety-nine. They have the advantage of allowing a child's imagination to roam and develop naturally. How many times have you seen a child ignore the expensive toy and play with the box it came in?

Most can be made very inexpensively if you have some basic carpentry skills and the appropriate tools. You will need, a drill with assorted sized bits, a chisel, saw, hammer, screwdriver, nails, screws, sandpaper, and paint along with some small scraps of wood.

Cars, trucks tractors and wagons are not difficult. You will probably want to add wood glue to your list of supplies if you are going to make some of these types of toys for children. Find a good picture of the vehicle you want to create for your child and look at it in terms of squares, rectangles, and cylinders. A pick up truck, is a long rectangle with a square at one end, sitting on four short cylinders. You can of course get more creative, and put sides on the truck bed so that your child can haul things in the back, but you are still working with the same basic shapes.

If you use two dowels for the axle going through the body of the truck or car it will be almost indestructible. For older children you can use a chisel to create the windows, and make markings for the doors, and handles. When you assemble the pieces you should glue and nail or screw the pieces together for extra strength. Remember to sand smooth and round any edges that will be exposed. Bright primary colours in lead free enamel will finish the vehicle.

The possibilities are endless only limited by your time, patience and imagination. Dollhouses for the 11 1/2-inch dolls that are so popular now or how about a wooden toy chest to keep all those wonderful toys you have made? You could even make some beads to string, by simply drilling holes in small wooden blocks that have had the edges rounded. Babies like toys that move, so put wheels on an lion, or giraffe.

Remember to always use lead free paint and round all corners. If you decide to add a pull string, make sure it is too short to wrap around a child's neck and where possible always use two methods of attaching parts together. Your creations should last for many years, and with a little bit of touch up paint can be passed on to future generations.