Why Woodcarving?
Carving probably isn’t the first thing you think of when you think about woodworking.
However, it has some important advantages over furniture making or woodturning that I hope you
will consider.
ANYONE CAN DO IT
This is not an exclusive advantage of carving, but I am putting it here because many people
mistakenly assume that carving is an artistic skill. Rather, it has always been a trade, and was
practised by ordinary people via the traditional apprenticeship system. Artistic ability is an
advantage even in furniture making, but it is not a necessary asset in any woodworking.
YOU CAN DO IT ANYWHERE.
At its simplest, all you need to carve is a sharp knife and a stick of wood. But even quite complex carving can be done with a few tools and small pieces of suitable wood, which means you can take it with you wherever you go. You can take it with you on your travels or holidays. You can do it in the garden, in a hotel, or in the kitchen. It is extremely portable.
IT IS NOT EXPENSIVE
Good tools are expensive, but you do not have to have a large number of them. And individually, they are a fraction of the cost of most good furniture making tools. In addition, you do not need a range of expensive power tools or machinery.
IT DOES NOT REQUIRE A LARGE, DEDICATED SPACE
As I have already said, you can carve anywhere. Of course, a special place is always good to
have, but, unlike for furniture making or woodturning, it is not necessary. You can even get by without a workbench if you must.
YOU CHOOSE THE SCALE OF YOUR WORK
Carvers produce work as small as Netsuke, which would fit into a tennis ball, or as large as a monument in a public space, and everything in between. There has recently been an explosion of interest worldwide in carving spoons, and associated tableware, for example.
WORKING IS MOSTLY QUIET AND CONTEMPLATIVE
I work only with hand tools, and the most noise I make is when I use a mallet on the tools. Hence, I do not need ear muffs, safety glasses, or dust protection to protect my senses from the effects of machinery and power tools. I can play my favourite music and just bliss out.
THE FURTHER YOU GO, THE BETTER IT GETS
This is probably true of any pursuit, and it is certainly true of carving. It is enormously satisfying to be able to carve well, and to carve small treasures for members of your family, or to add to your home. There is also the quiet joy involved when you are able to confront the challenge of creating work that is truly beautiful.
Working with our hands brings both demands and rewards that can last for the rest of our lives. It can fill the void created when we finish work and retire. Or it can be an alternative challenge that allows us to recharge our souls in the hours when we are not working. It can be a weekly hobby – the equivalent of golf every Wednesday morning, for example – or it can become an utterly absorbing, full time obsession, virtually a second career to be enjoyed in retirement, or alongside your primary career until you retire, if you should be so lucky.
EVEN CABINETMAKERS AND WOODTURNERS BENEFIT FROM CARVING SKILLS
The obvious benefit is being able to decorate furniture and turnings, something that I believe will become more important in the years to come. Fashion has banished this in our modern era, but as we all know, fashions change. I remember well the bell bottom trousers and platform shoes of my youth, which are cringeworthy now, but I would not bet against them coming back in some altered form.
But there is a much more important potential benefit than decoration, and that is the the hand and mental skills that carving develops allows a furniture designer or maker to escape from the limits imposed by straight lines and right angles. Suddenly, the world of curves beckons, and a whole new design vocabulary opens up. Complex, three dimensional curved forms can not only be imagined, they can also be made. This is the field where some of the most exciting and beautiful new furniture is being made by young furniture makers around the world today.