• Chisels strewn amongst wood chips and curls.tool bench image by Greg Pickens from Fotolia.com
  
  A popular material for art and craftwork, wood is easy to manipulate. Carving begins with sharp blades that peel away (rather than tear at) wood. A selection of basic carving tools enables the artist or hobbyist to perform rough shaping and intricate detail work and to create defined lines and gentle curves. Become familiar with basic carving tools, choose the right tools for your project and begin sculpting a masterpiece.
  
  

Carving Knife

• A carving knife features a large, comfortable handle and small, sharp blade. The short, mildly curved blade of the basic carving knife blade is similar in appearance to a chef’s paring knife. Variations of this blade, such as hooked, scythe-like blades and straight-edged blades, allow the carver to perform special cuts and ornamental work. The design of the knife’s handle, usually wooden or plastic, accommodates the palm and fingers and reduces the strain caused by prolonged holding and carving.
  
  

Chisel

• The term chisel generally refers to a flat-bottomed, rectangular piece of metal attached to a straight handle. The end of the chisel’s metal portion is angled and sharpened. The chisel may be lightly pressed along a wood surface, to peel away curls of material, or pounded by a mallet, to remove large chunks from the center of a piece of wood.
  
  

Gouge

• A gouge features a sharpened metal tip attached to a straight handle. Whereas a chisel’s body is flat-bottomed, the gouge is curved, like a cylinder cut in half. The gouge’s half-circle tip allows the carver to scoop chunks of wood from a block, in a fashion similar to a melon baller removing flesh from a fruit. Variations of the gouge’s shape, such as the V-shaped V-tool, create different profiles in a material’s surface.
  
  

Mallet

• The mallet, a hammering and pounding tool, features a head made of soft or gently yielding material, such as rubber, plastic or wood. A mallet’s head looks like a barrel—a stout cylindrical body and a broad face on both sides. Mallets are used to gently pound the handles of chisels and gouges, forcing the tools beneath the surface of the wood being worked. The yielding nature of the mallet’s head reduces strain and damage to the handle of the chisel or gouge.