Introduction - A famous painter, when asked, 'How do I learn to paint?' answered: 'Take a canvas, take a brush, dip the brush in the paint and start.' Similar advice can be given in all seriousness to the aspiring carver, for the best teachers in the world are practice and, of course, the strong urge to fashion something for its own sake.

1. Wood Tree - The study of wood has become a science in itself. Students who wish to go deeply into this subject can obtain detailed information from the Agricultural Research Service and the Forest Service divisions of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. Some general information, however, seems appropriate here so that the reader may gain a working understanding of his material.

2. Carving Wood - Woods, like so many materials we use, are subject to fashion. For instance, pitch pine and mahogany suffered an eclipse at the close of the nineteenth century but now they are again gaining favor. Fresh treatments and new designs make us see these woods in a different light. Those who can look back far enough remember the pitch pine school desks, still surviving in the 1920's. They were usually ink-stained and scarred and for me associated with being 'kept in' on sunny afternoons.

3. Carving Wood #2 - Honduras Mahogany (43 lb.). There are various species of mahogany, but from the carver's point of view the characteristics  are similar. It is a good carving wood and of a beautiful rich red color. The grain is usually fairly straight. It does split rather easily and care must be taken in carving when this tendency is apparent. Mahogany glues well and takes a fine polish.

4. Workshop - In wood carving it is possible to improvise by making a small working area in the corner of a living-room, that is if space is limited. If, on the other hand, you have a room or dry shed that can be used exclusively for carving, so much the better. Unlike stone carving, which creates a great deal of dust, wood carving can be termed a 'clean' craft as the dust is negligible and the wood chips can easily be swept up and burned. It is only when carving is combined with general carpentry and joinery that the complete workshop is absolutely necessary.

5. Tools - The wood carver uses a number of carpenter's tools at various stages in his work. In a few cases the carver and carpenter use tools of the same name, but very different in type.. For instance, the carpenter's mallet is a modified rectangular block while the carver's mallet is round in section with a much shorter handle. The carpenter's gouge is thick and heavy by comparison to a carver's. When carving, use the carver's tools. An initial interest in carpentry will often develop into a wish to carve and some knowledge of woodwork and joinery is very valuable to the carver.

6. Tools #2 - As the types and shapes of the gouge can be numbered in hun­dreds, uses also are many and varied. Although for a carving in the round one or two can suffice, it is in the more complicated forms of relief and ornament carving that it is just as well to have a good selection. In the first stages of such carving and after the design is drawn on the wood, the gouge is often used in a chop­ping action, the tool being held in an almost vertical position. The curve of the gouge is selected to fit the curves of the drawing, the tool being driven into the wood almost at right angles.

7. General Advice - When the workshop is prepared try a few simple exercises described in chapter 6 so that you may acquire practice with tools and get to know the 'feel' of the wood. You will then be ready to think of designing something yourself, and before doing so, look at some really good wood carvings. Photographs can remind us of things seen but for proper appreciation it is better to see the actual work.

8. General Advice #2 - It is interesting to compare similar subjects carved in wood and stone, or modelled for bronze. When bronze has been worked on with tools and files after casting, it has something in common with carving. I have advised you to get ideas for wood carving from the works in that material. However, examples as the animal sculptures in bronze, page 153, and the stone carving from Notre Dame in Paris, page 155, can be a source of inspiration to those looking for ideas.

9. In Practice - In learning to carve wood it is a very good plan to start with a few basic shapes, if you have been inspired to start carving by seeing some elaborate piece of ornament, put this out of your mind for the time being. As a first exercise in the round attempt an egg as illustrated, or perhaps a cylinder, or cone. The actual carving of such shapes need not be a lengthy process, but in the course of making them you will learn some fundamental truths about wood and tools.

10. In Practice #2 - When you have removed the corners and spare wood with the saw, put the saw away as you will not need it again during carving. Now draw on the block again, making sure that you have planned the shape from the front and top (Fig. 34). If the block is wide enough you can give the head some movement.

11. Life-Size Figure - I hope this chapter will prove useful to the young sculptor who has his first commission to carve a large figure in wood. The methods described will follow very closely those used in the 'The Risen Christ in Glory' (plates VII-XIII). It is likely that the setting for a large commission will be architectural.

12. Adhesives - The first evidence of the use of glue was found in an Egyptian tomb dated 1400 b.c. and there is little doubt that glue was used for some hundreds of years before this date. Pictorial evidence exists of Egyptian craftsmen boiling bones and hides to produce glue. In the Middle Ages the use of glue fell into a decline. The joints of furniture before a.d. 1500 were pegged and sometimes strengthened by iron straps.

13. Finishing - Finish should be a natural outcome of your efforts to complete the form of the carving as well as you can. When you are satis­fied with the look and shape of your work it is time to stop. If you favor a tool-cut texture, do not finish by imposing a uniform tooled texture all over the surface. This can be very monotonous and mechanical in appearance. Rather let the surface treatment come about by the process of carving the shapes. Surface glitter, whether it be varnish or superficial texture, will add nothing to the real value of your work.

14. Scales - I do not, as a rule, attempt to enlarge with exact accuracy from a small sketch. I prefer to have some licence to modify the design. However, at times scales for enlarging and reducing can be very useful, particularly if the beginner wishes to copy some given design. Students often use reducing scales when working from the live model. You should try to train your eye and not to resort to scales and measurements unless really necessary. If your drawing is weak, it is possible to work with a few guiding measure­ments and then to try and use your eyes and judgement.

15. Attitudes - For the sculptor wood is only one of the media in which he works. Stone, clay, cement, plaster, wax, metals, and in recent years plastics, are some of the diverse materials that come under his hand. He is likely to have a bias towards certain media, a liking for one or the other. During some periods he will prefer one medium, or circumstances may alter his course of work. To make a living as a sculptor he will often have to be ready to tackle any material.

16. History - Wood is a perishable material and has not the same continuous history as stone. Ancient stone carvings are still unearthed; Greek bronzes are still being fished out of the sea. But wood will not survive neglect and must be specially cared for if it is to endure. There are many gaps—many civilizations which have no wood carvings to represent them.

17. History #2 - In Germany at the end of the fifteenth century, two sculptors were outstanding: Veit Stoss and Tilman Riemanschneider. Their wood figures vary in size from 5 or 6 inches to over life-size. Both have a recognizable style which stands out among the somewhat stereotyped works of their contemporaries. Heads and hands are taken from life but formalized, though not idealized.

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