Woodcarving 101: Carving a Wooden Animal Skull

This was a project I undertook that merges the ideas of predator and prey into one body, one skull, immortalized in wood. That's why you probably don't recognize this piece as any animal you know! For this reason, I called this piece Adaptation. If you want to find out how I made this, follow along and I'll explain my process, from conception to creation!

Here's what you'll need to get started on this project!

• Wood (oak hardwood is a great beginner friendly option)
• General carver knife
• Detail carver knife
• Spoon carver knife
• Flat chisel
• Sandpaper (assorted grit)

Optional but handy additions:

• Clamps
• Carpenters glue
• Whetstone
• Cut-resistant gloves

Note: my knives are from Beavercraft. If you're looking for affordable and reliable woodcarving equipment, definitely check them out!

This first step is arguably the most important of all, as it can easily make or break your entire project. I've had many a woodcarving project end up in ruin due to poor planning, and I can confidently advise that you should not rush this step in the process. You're going to want to start off with a solid idea of what you want to make and how you'd like the details to look. Remember: woodworking is very much a 3D art form. It'll take more than just a few 2D sketches until you can really understand the nature of what you intend to create. Don't let that discourage you from taking risks, though! Wood is a very forgiving medium to work with, and whatever mistakes you make can be covered up with the right ratio of carpenters glue and sawdust. Especially while you're learning, it's great to make mistakes and learn new ways of fixing them up. But to avoid the heartache and disappointment, please plan, plan, plan before you start carving!

For this project, I used my sketchbook to draw what I wanted it to look like, making sure to use plenty of references of various wolf and sheep skulls to inform my sketches. I made sure to research a lot about how skulls look in different animals and how predator skulls look in comparison to prey. For example, predatory animals often have their eyes looking straight ahead, whereas prey animals typically have them at the sides of their heads to be able to observe their surroundings better.

I made my decisions about how I wanted my skull to look, which features I'd take from which animals, and I put together a final draft of my design. When I was satisfied, I drew my sketch onto my piece of hardwood. We're ready to start carving!

Before I start discussing my process, I would like to be very clear about one thing: we're working with very sharp knives! Safety is no joke when it comes to a hobby like this, especially at a step like this when we're focused on carving away large areas of wood. So, please, observe caution, never cut towards yourself - always away, and wear cut-resistant gloves if you've got them. Doing that ensures you'll get to keep all your extremities for further woodcarving adventures. With that being said, here's step 2!

As stated above, this step involves subtracting large areas of wood to get a better sense of the rough shape you want. This is your last chance to make any big changes to your plans, because past this point you're pretty much married to the general shape that step 2 brings. Your goal is to chisel away at your piece of wood without focusing too much on the details, as you'll have time to figure those out later. You'll want to keep on chiselling away until you have a rough outline of your desired shape. Don't compromise your original sketch too much. If you do happen to lose some of your sketch as you subtract material, no worries! Just redraw what you lost and keep going until you're happy with your shape and you feel like you can start using finer tools.

The reason we don't just go ahead and start doing this task with our handy general purpose carver is because it'll take A LOT of swipe throughs and elbow grease to remove a large amount of material like this. You'll be left with a knife you'll have sharpened 20 times before the job is complete. It's not that you can't do it - nothing is that strict in woodworking - it's just there are better tools for the job, so why not use those instead and save yourself the trouble? Once you achieve a nice outline you're confident with, you can proceed to step 3!

This is the most time consuming step of the entire process, and for good reason! This is the point where your weird little sort-of-carving takes true form under your expert craftsmanship. You'll be alternating from using your general purpose knife, to your tiny baby detail knife, to your spoon carving knife, to sanding paper, and back again to your general purpose knife. It'll seem like this step is consuming the entirety of your waking days, you'll be doing a task unrelated to woodworking and find yourself feeling uncomfortably light without your knives in hand and an ache in your neck from craning in far too closely. Your family will later divulge that you've been madly whittling nothing in your sleep with an imaginary blade, far too familiar now with the motions as you are. You may awaken in the middle of the night, suffering from insomnia and anxious to get back to your woodworking. Let me assure you that this is all completely normal, for the most part. All great hobbies come at a cost, after all.

Regardless of how step 3 manifests in your life, you'll most definitely enjoy this step the most! Make sure to take it slow and consider big actions several times before committing. Remember: it's easy to subtract material, but not so easy to add new material. Keep your knives sharp during this process (I'll generally need to sharpen my knives every half hour of work), and be cautious around areas where the wood grain is working against you. The only part of this piece that'll need the spoon carving tool is the eye socket. It may seem insignificant, but it makes a huge difference in the final appearance of the piece and it's not a feature I would recommend any other tool but the spoon carver for. This is the most natural tool for the job, albeit a bit of an annoyance to sharpen. Regardless, with all things, take it slow and watch a couple of videos on how to use your whetstone to sharpen different wood carving tools at your leisure.

At the end of the process, when you're truly satisfied with your work, you'll want to go over it several times with sandpaper until the surface is smooth, making sure to get into those tough-to-reach places in the mouth and near the jaw. I recommend starting off with a rough grit, then medium, then fine. Next up, we finish the piece!

For the finish, I used glossy wood lacquer, but you can use whatever you'd like to finish your piece including natural oils or clear paint sprays. Follow the instructions on the product of your choice, and observe the proper ventilation processes for your respective finish. The lacquer I used was slightly toxic to breathe, so I ensured I wore an N95 mask in addition to working outdoors to decrease my risk of exposure to harmful airborne chemicals in the lacquer I was using. I left my piece to cure, and when it was done I noticed it took on a lovely orange tint that complements the design nicely.

It makes an excellent addition to my wall of memories and knickknacks! The teeth are great for holding Polaroid pictures hostage :)