Carving

As much as author Niklas Karlsson is concerned with conveying the excitement of carving, he is also thorough with the preparatory steps. He has dedicated a separate chapter to each important carving tool, he presents in detail the other equipment such as chopping block, carving bench and plane and, last but not least, gives important tips on wood: on grain and grain direction, to determine the types of wood and the wood itself, to collect and self-supply.

In the second half of the book, he describes the actual carving projects: (cooking) spoons, guksi, the traditional Scandinavian drinking cups, a shelf, a hook rail, as well as cans and vessels. Meaningful photographs, detailed illustrations, and comprehensible descriptions accompany each project. The passion with which Niklas Karlsson is a carver himself is evident everywhere: he organizes workshops, sells his objects via blog and takes part in international carving festivals. In short: He knows what he's talking about.

The basics of woodworking and wood processing were common knowledge in earlier centuries. One could make many practical everyday objects from wood with simple means and find the raw material almost everywhere. Today, this traditional knowledge has largely disappeared. On the one hand, there are elaborate handicrafts and, on the other, industrialised mass production (especially in furniture making). But it is precisely the lost middle ground that can easily be recaptured. Carving combines many of the basics of woodworking. For this reason, when you learn carving, you learn pretty casually and almost playfully which tool to use for what purpose, which wood is better or worse suited for cutting and – quite generally – which projects agree with wood.

One of the most appealing aspects is that no one but you can determine when the object you have worked on is finished. All in all, no one can objectively assess whether you have left too much material and would have done better to remove some more in terms of “right” or “wrong”. Such artistic freedom that goes without any pressure to justify yourself is immensely liberating. In the end, we create something out of nothing with our own hands – because we want to and because we can. And while we satisfy a primal human need, we come to realise - and this too should be addressed - that what we glorify today as a romantic craft was once often a real drudgery.

We have assorted some books with this in mind. The manuals are intended to be an incentive to engage with the subject of carving creatively. Specifically, advanced carvers may find answers to the question: What can be done with green wood from the forest? Eventually, on the next walk in the woodland, we may discover quite casually and yet with a practised eye those pieces of wood that are suitable for what our imagination has already formed in thought. Later at home, in the workshop, at the campsite, by the fire in front of the camper (or wherever), we let this imagination become a reality. The result may facilitate our everyday life or make a thoughtful gift.