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[Brian T]

I found it to be easier to carve birch, cherry and aspen poplar with a mallet to drive the gouges. The hardness of those woods is not as noticeable as with just plain hand work. I have watched a carver work a piece of fresh willow, it cut like cheese. Not so when other pieces had dried.
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[Brian T]

There's no need at all to glue the sandpaper to a support. The key thing is to use something that's fairly flat. Even a laminate flooring off-cut will do. Attach the sandpaper with bits of masking tape.
The weight of the tool and your gentle down force will flatten the paper as your edges go...

[Brian T]

Years ago, I thought that I could carve a simple spoon and fork with a hot oil finish and sell them.
The batch size sort of depended on the size of my kitchen oven for oiling. So I would up doing them in batches of a dozen. My wild-eyed target was 100 spoons.

Table saw to cut blanks...

[Brian T]

Most kinds of carving knives work well when you can keep the edge at 12 degrees total (6 each face).
Getting into harder woods, up the angle to that of gouges, say 20 degrees.

What I'm saying is that there is no practical substitute for learning to maintain a "carving sharp"...

[Brian T]

Too much, too fast, single viewpoint and done by amateurs. What the carver needs to see may never be the focus of any part of the video. That's where some honest critique and feed back is badly needed. But with a little help, it can be done.

Right now, I'm following a wood carving video...

[Brian T]

I've accumulated a variety of saws. Some certainly do a job better than others. At the end of the day, nobody will ever know what you used for the rough-out.

1. Mostly common carpenter's saws and coping saws for projects under 24". One coping saw cuts on the pull stroke, the other...

[Brian T]

Fussy business, canes, trying to get one that's "right." I was measured with my shoes on, standing as straight as I could. The total length was up to the crease in my wrist between my hand and my arm. The maker always cut the tenon a couple of inches too long for the expected trimming....

[Brian T]

No need to glue it down. One dab of masking tape at the top end with pull strokes does it all.
Gravity and your gentle pressure on the tool is plenty. Try stopping at 1500 then hone.

I can feel when it takes more "push" to use a gouge or a knife. Time for a swipe on 1500...