181 // Carving A Career Out Of Nothing

Blog by Paul Green

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If you’re going to set off on a career in wood carving you’re going to need a few things. Firstly, you are certainly going to need a few chisels; a curved gouge chisel would be more than handy, andy pandy a standard skew would also be useful. Unsurprisingly you’re going to need a bit of wood, the classic carving wood would be a basswood, but some people would ask which wood would also be good wood to carve with, and which wood wouldn’t. And the answer is; I don’t know. I’m not a wood-carver.

One piece of wood you’re not going to want though is a solid pine corner bed post. Something I found out when I was a young boy of around 8 years of age. Living in an area where a solid pine corner bed post cut off was just lying around, I suddenly had grand ambitions to become a master wood-carver. I imagined carving a beautifully crafted miniature pirate ship, with detailed sails and angry pirates with swords, from this corner post. The only problem was; I was short of any tools. After a quick look around the garden shed I came out with a large rusty flat headed screwdriver, and a hammer.

That’ll do.

After approximately 7 minutes of randomly hammering the screwdriver into the solid pine wood, and not making so much as a dent, I called an end to my carving days. It was a short lived career, but I am proud of my vision – even though I was not able to fully realise it.

Today though I came out of retirement to help my girlfriend’s Dad build a 3 tiered flower bed from a few old wooden pallets. Naturally, a real #Blogger would have photographic evidence from every angle, getting their partner to hold their mothers standing lamp as a back light, followed by 2 hours of editing in post. I did none of those things, and that is why there is no photographic evidence, but I do feel that since the start of this blog we, you, the reader, have developed a mutual trust of one and other. A trust whereby I can say something and you just blindly believe it. We have what I like to call a ‘Trumpian’ relationship.

I was proud of myself today though, and of my girlfriend’s Dad. It certainly turned out better than I expected, so maybe my dreams of becoming a master woodsman can still become a reality. If anyone would like to donate some large flat headed screwdrivers to get me going, it would wood be much appreciate it.

Paul Green

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24 Comments

  3. BelleUnruh
    Reply

    I took up woodworking a year ago. I can’t afford expensive wood, so I bought some firewood and pine pieces. They are as hard as cement! But I’ve carved, cut, sanded and painted some things, and I love them all. Lots of fun and hard work.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. S. Hansen
    Reply

    I had a go at wood carving as a kid too. Myself and K intended to build a den… The chisel went into K’s hand after about 5 minutes of work. But undeterred I figured I’d just have to finish the job myself the next day. The chisel went into my hand about 4 minutes of work…
    We are not a family of woodworkers. Although we haven’t yet tested our response to finding a sleeping wolf with a suspiciously large belly and a girls voice coming from inside.

    Liked by 1 person

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