Vineland Vagrant is a cousin of Hillsboro Hobo and Ft. Worth Hobo (earlier hobo carvings) being the third version of hobos with almost identical features and design.  These hobos begin as a two inch square by six inch tall block of basswood. Bud Murray Knives were used exclusively to carve each hobo.  To find out more about these knives visit the Cool Links listing and click on “Bud Murray Knives.” Read the rest of this entry »

A simple design for carving a Santa ornament in the Whittle-Carving style can also be adapted to carve a standing Santa and even elf like characters.

The original Santa Ornament design was given to me by Greg Douglas of Alabama who carved his using gouges, V tools as well as a knife.  So Thanks to Greg’s design a whittled version has become a good carving project. Read the rest of this entry »

Every carving project is a learning experience of learning about the subject being carved as well as the creative process to do the actual carving.  Carving a skull out of a basswood egg contains several lessons for carving the human face.  Wait a minute, the skull is bone and how does carving a skull teach about the human face which is muscle and skin?  The lesson is that the skull is the foundation and form which molds and shapes the muscle and skin to cover the bone skull. Read the rest of this entry »