A very inexpensive, in fact a free tool to aid in the carving process is the very common business card. Every carver has one that bears the carver’s name, address and phone number or has another carver’s business card. In fact any business card will do as a measuring and straight edge tool. The standard business card measures two inches wide by three and a half inches long. These known measurement quantities can give approximate measurements when laid against a carving project. Let’s say for example the carver wants to measure a piece of wood and does not have a tape rule but does have a business card. Laying the card against the project and marking off in the increments of the known measurements of the business card, the carver can come to an approximate measurement. Three widths of the card would equal six inches; two lengths would make seven inches; and one width and one length would make five and a half inches; and so forth and so forth. Read the rest of this entry »