re: Four In One Cowboy Carving

Thanks Thorreain and L/W. I have a few good quality carving tools, but figure carving can be done mostly with just a knife. I used just a chip carving knife for this one plus a gouge for the top of the hat brim. One well known figure carver does about 90% of his carving with a utility knife, but he also uses a small thin blade knife, a ‘V’ tool and a small gouge.

As so many figure carvers claim, I found it very relaxing to do figure carving, partly, I think, because you hold the work piece in your hand which eliminates a lot of clamping and unclamping, and also because you don’t need to be constantly changing tools as in relief carving. Another aspect is that there is great latitude for improving your design or making changes underway, whereas relief carving is a far more disciplined experience.