How to Carve Pine Tree Wood

Prepare to Carve

• 1

  Find a piece of pine at a carving supply store or specialty wood store. A small piece of pine wood, to make a figurine, for example, will cost only a few dollars. Buy a piece of pine with a strong grain, as this will increase the durability of the piece you carve.

• 2

  Design your project. Get a picture of what you would like to carve. Outline the shape with a pencil on the piece of pine you have chosen.

• 3

  Assemble your woodcarving tools. To carve pine, a rasp and gouge are the best choices because they are easy to handle with the soft wood.

Choose a Carving Technique

• 4

  Carve your piece of pine with the relief-carve technique. This method is used for two-dimensional objects and decorations on walls. Use a flat board of wood and a gouge and chisel to chip away the wood from around the pattern you drew. Sand down the irregular edges using 90-grit sandpaper.

• 5

  Chip-carve your piece of pine. This ancient technique consists of removing chips from a wood block to create patterns on the wood. Use a rasp to remove small flecks of wood from the panel or block, making each chip reach the same depth in the wood. This method uses two surfaces -- the face of the wood and the uniform depth to which you make the chips.

• 6

  Carve your piece of pine by using the whittling technique. This is the easiest way to carve wood because it requires only a pocket knife. You don't even need a design, which often results in a more vague representation of the object you are carving.