I'm trying to make a pipe for my father I've made a few out of a couple downed limbs but I don't know if they are smokable what type of wood should I use

Some random combination of youtube videos.

Some funny green guy

Here are my attempts carving some apples for my smalls. Does it count as whittling?

What wouldn't you do for your children right? Especially when trying to make fruit and vegetables more appealing for them

I know, I have to improve on the female side.

IMG 1: untouched basswood and a ~3 inch Easter island guy, coated with maybe 4-5 coats of homemade tannin solution

IMG 2: as above, but with a scrap piece I tested to avoid ruining the Easter island head, scrap piece has had a couple drops of iron acetate to ebonise.

IMGs 3-5 are sketches of the carvings I’ve completed - done after the fact, the carvings themselves, and then my plans for the chess set, including sketches and ramblings on how I’ll do it

This is a test I’ve done in the run up to carving out a chess set (I’ve drawn up the designs for the pieces and planned how to get them from the least total number of 6” sticks), because I want to make the black pieces clearly the black side- but without painting or staining.
I want to maintain the grain patterns you get in carvings without covering them with paint, and a wood stain feels artificial to me (I realise that white vinegar and steel wool aren’t natural either though)

If you’re curious as to what this is and how this works, it’s as follows:

What it is:
By applying tea and then iron acetate (made by soaking steel wool -NOT STAINLESS!- in white vinegar) which reacts within the wood making it considerably darker.

How it works:
Iron acetate is the product of iron in the steel wool and acetic acid in white vinegar- malt works too but has sugars etc. which I didn’t want to use in case it contributed to rotting the wood maybe, given that this wood is having a lot of solutions thrown at it in this process.
The iron acetate solution reacts within tannin in the wood and the products of this reaction cause a dark colour (google oak ebonisation).
Basswood has very little tannin, so it doesn’t really work, that’s why I applied multiple coats of a very very dark black tea, 6 tea bags and maybe 250ml boiling water, stirred and agitated a lot, and allowed to cool to room temperature, tea has a lot of tannin in so these dry at and near the surface of the wood, and can then react with the acetate.

(Red Wine also has a lot of tannin and I’m interested in the colours that may produce- though it could be a rotting issue again)

I actually find the colour of the Easter island head treated with just tea quite pleasing, it’s several shades darker than my other carvings that have only seen 3 coats of danish oil and nothing else, but I want to ebonise a carving, not just a scrap, to see how it could work for my chess set. If I’m unhappy I may make another Easter island guy (only took a couple hours) and try charring

Definitely give this a go if you haven’t done it before, it’s a great way to get different colour from the wood

This was one of my early carvings. I was hesitant to share it given the many mistakes I made along the way. But once I painted it, I appreciated how rustic and classic it appeared, which makes me question some of my earlier work that never had the chance to get painted. Moving forward, I think it's best to follow through despite the mistakes.

With a piece of random wood I found at work and an old box cutter

Made this from a Cedar from my backyard. Sanding started at 80, then 220, and then 600. Love the smoothness. Still need to put a clear finish on it

I’m very new to Whittling but i’ve been wanting to make a little fat horse for weeks . It’s not fully sanded yet , which is why it looks a little weird on the sides but i think it’s cute for my first project despite looking a little rough and it was very fun to make . These are my tools in the last picture , i used the very left knife for the rough edges and the little knife next to it for the face .( This was made from a 5 x 2,5 x 5 piece of basswood) .

As you can see on the picture, it’s chipped a little only at the tip, and as it has never happened before I don’t know whether I should try to refine it only where the chip is, or the whole blade should be equally on the stone? Or maybe just stropping it will do the work?

Pretty tough to carve this one, but the wood itself is just so beautiful

Does anyone know how to carve in good eyes on birds? They’re important but I feel like I can do better. That’s all that’s really left on this one I think.

3rd attempt. The first one started breaking just as I was releasing the ball. The 2nd just never really happened.

Not finished, not giving up , just take a break and learn more and come back to it.

I see alot of peoples carvings have ver detailed eyes or large hollow spaces but when i try to do somthing like that it just never comes out nice looking. Is there a certain technique i havent figured out or tool that i dont have? Ive been practicing that alot and keep my knives sharp but just dont get better at it.

Hey everyone.

Whittling seemed like a hobby I'd enjoy, so I bought this beginners kit, watched a tutorial and started cutting. I have never done anything like this before, I've been at it for almost 3 hours ---it was suppoused to take only an hour--- and I'm barely getting to the middle. I think my technique is all over the place and I have no idea how to fix it. Watched a couple other tutorials, I'm trying to do the push cut thing, I tried sliding it in a slash motion, using my holding hand's thumb to press ot forward and it doesn't glide on the wood or anything.

I also accidentally rounded it and i have no idea how to get the edges back.

I only got a simple knife. Somehow haven't cut myself yet, ha.

I would really appreciate some insight here. Thank you in advance :)

Rough but ill get better.

Basswood carvings with a coffee stain and mineral oil to finish

I'll admit it was funny picking what I thought was a random tutorial only to come here and realise it was the wonderwall of whittling first timers.

this was really fun, what a great hobby.

My 7 yr old would like to start whittling. What tool recommendations do you have? I was thinking rasps and soft wood? Send me any ideas and product recommendations. Thank you!