The Green Wood Carver: A Practical Guide to Carving, Whittling, and Life

Discover the absorbing art of green-wood carving with Samuel Alexander’s skills, projects and techniques—and his reflections on whittling in a busy world

Whittling is an immersive and peaceful form of woodcarving which rewards calm focus with beautiful objects. Samuel Alexander shows how to responsibly source fresh green wood, introduces the basic techniques for using your knife, and demonstrates how to carve unique objects. But, sharing his own story, he also reveals the other benefit that whittling can bring you: a time of happy focus that’s free from pressure and profoundly relaxing.

After covering the basics of how to get started, you can work through a range of step-by-step projects at your own pace. Working with the grain, you’ll create tactile curves and textures, slowly revealing the character of each piece as you whittle. Samuel’s projects progress in difficulty to challenge your new skills, and include brushes, simple buttons, household hooks, a toy car, an apple ornament, spoons, vases, and beads. Finally, he shows how to finish the keepsakes you’ve whittled with oil, and how to maintain your tools. Throughout the book, Samuel’s thoughtful prose also encourages you to find another state of mind as you whittle, and discover the deep calm which arrives as you focus on small movements and personal creativity.