u/Flimsy_Mess_1915

Tools: knife only - MStein N2

Wood: Spanish cedar

Maybe you've seen this design around, it's kinda hyped right now because some youtubers are making videos about it. Supposed to be a traditional whittle. It's fun and quick to make, I liked the result, might make more, this one was freestyled (no tutorials, no pencil lines). Still deliberating and comparing my two knives to decide which one will be my main (OCC or MStein), so I used each one on half of the carving. This piece confirmed my intention to let go of painting. It's not my favourite theme to carve, but there is something cozy and relatable about him. Might make it a series, grandpa series, farmers, old timers or something like that. He sort of reminds me we are all going to get old. Honestly, looking at him, comes the realisation that for the first time I'm thinking of myself as a carver. That's nice.

One hour in the park and this little guy came out. Tried to suggest a sweater and comfy pants. Changing my mind about my OCC knife, liking it more and more after each carving, I'm using as my main knife now. This particular batch of wood I got isn't the softest, but I love the texture and it has a good weight for a small piece. Will work great for the chess set. I have one more piece to make before starting the chess set project.

Just wanted to share my new stuff. Got 3 sizes of block to work with now. Still not sure which is my favourite. Probably the smaller will be my main block for a while because it's more practical. Last block pic shows the start of the chess set project. The wood is all spanish cedar.

I also bought a large case that fits everything I need and more. Second case picture: strop, little pieces of compound, little cloth for cleaning the blade, bandages just in case, knife, pencil and little brush for the carving. Last picture: big microfiber towel for catching the shavings, a second knife and little blocks of wood. It's not only a travel kit, it's everything I use.

Decided to give my OCC knife another shot. Spent a good while stropping it and gave it a spin on two quick carvings for testing, one of them was little Gerald. He's not cleaned up, not planned ahead, not even completely finished because he wasn't meant to exist. However, I ended up having a lot of fun just looking at him at the end. Reminded me that little characters with little clothes are super fun, I will remember this to adapt to my more fantasy/medieval style, making villager folks or even hobbit-like figures, something I can mix and match different clothes designs.

Made this carving in the park and gave it to a random kid. A minute later a smaller kid showed up and started hanging around near me. After a while he started singing " I wanted a wooden toy ". I just made one so I had to see him walking away heads down to join the first kid. Life is rough.

Still practicing sword and shield figures. Copying Frantishak Bogusevich. I like this one, might be my new standard size. The raw wood texture and look is unmatched in my opinion, to paint it I would have to get some less interesting light coloured wood. Still a lot to work on, especially the grip on the sword, and the sword itself, as well as the top part. The hood was a solution to skip a part that I'm struggling with (helmet or bald head). The rest is fine: body, shield and face.

I've kind of plateaued on my evolution and got briefly demotivated, but it's all just practice and patience, so I persist. I guess there's this feeling of unsatisfaction with my carving because I know I can do so much better. However, I try to keep in mind where I was when I started. Still having fun. As always, knife only with my trusted MStein N2, that now has laser marked custom symbols. Bonus pictures for that and a bit of the process.