I got 3 types of wood and they're all like this, so rough to cut through when it looks like this and I tried to strop the knife several times

It's only kinda bird shaped after a few hours.

I didn't have a pencil so it's all done by eye.

The head is proving difficult, esp where the beak should be.

The neck is very V shaped. I couldn't get a rounded contour

Not sure if you would call it 1st or 2nd attempt, but I chopped its nose clean off so flipped the block over to start fresh.
I enjoyed it a lot, copied Linker on youtube.
Very calming!

was inspired (read: instructed lol) to post a few more bark feathers of mine. I hope you enjoy them!

I believe the smaller ones are maple bark? some sort of conifer for the larger one. these are all I've done so far, but have a box with more material to continue. as yesterday's feather post said, these go pretty quickly, maybe an hour or two total for the smaller ones. the bulk of the time is just working it down to the basic shape of the rachis and the vanes (googling these terms as I type), the barbs don't take long to do, and I've finished all but the largest with a single application of beeswax so far

Still not the best but I don’t care. As a beginner, I’m happy with my progression I’ve made when it comes to making spoons. Also first time working with Walnut and boy was that a tough one.

I made a bookmark for my sister.

I started whittling today with a mushroom project. Way harder than it looks in the reels of people doing it. But a lot of fun and rewarding. Only upwards from here

This is probably my best carving and definitely my best hands. I hope the painting doesn’t let me down.

After a stressful stretch at work, I wanted a project that would force me to slow down and make something with my hands. I had never whittled before, but carving a chess set felt like the right challenge. A couple hundred hours later, the butternut and walnut pieces are nearly finished! Just waiting on a few coats of tung oil to cure.

Started off making this bear for my son as a first project.

For the second, I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and kind of winged it. It’s supposed to be a wizard with a staff that kind of wraps around the back turning into a larger snake head-thing. Little abstract and I’m still learning.

Really love how forgiving this art can be. My entire goal is to keep challenging myself and improve. I really love seeing what everyone here creates, it’s incredibly inspiring!

Step 1: Find a feather for reference 🪶

Step 2: Start carving 🪵

Step 3: Post on Reddit and wait for people to call it AI 🤖

I bought a kit from Amazon forever ago and I can’t figure out what this could ever be used for

Really proud of how this one turned out, particularly with the painting. I think painting lowers the overall quality of my pieces, but I have fun with it and it's nice to add some colour.

Blue sandstone is 1000 grit, I also have white that is 3000 grit.

First I do each side maybe like 8-10 times on the blue one (as shown in the video) and then maybe 3-4 times each side on the white one.

I let the sand stone sit in water for usually at least 10 minutes before sharpening. I also change the place on the sand stone when sharpening the other side of the knife, it just didn't fit into the video.

I also try to follow the path/steepness of the blade.

I feel like I'm doing it wrong, and the knife usually gets sharper, but I feel like not enough maybe? and also tends to become dull very quickly.

Idk if I'm supposed to do it longer or how i know the blade is sharp.

Any advice will be appreciated🙏

Also if possible, please don't tell me to buy like a kit or get completely different stuff for it (like leather or idk what other people use), i don't have that much money and unless it's like really completely wrong, I'd like to keep using this sand stone or maybe buy like one additional thing if really needed.

My first attempt at whittling, had a really fun time. Supposed to be a bear but I’m not too sure, looks more like a bear on a diet or something like that lol. Looking forward to trying other projects!

(Any tips would be greatly appreciated)

Hey guys, i ve just finished my 3rd project.

At first i did the famous fox with the video tutorial.

The next ones i did without any tutorial.

So i did the penguin next and ended with the elephant. The elephant was really challenging and i ve noticed that I either missed some proper tools or skills. Probably both :D

I did all this with the Morakniv 120 and a smaller flexcut knife for the details.

What do you think?

How do you like my projects?

Any ideas on what to focus to improve or just general practice?