How to Carve a Woodspirit in a Hiking Stick

This book by Skylar Johnson is excellent in its simple step-by step instructions to carve wood spirit or old-man-of-the-mountain faces on walking sticks. I make about 20-30 hiking sticks a season from maple saplings I cull from a forest and wanted to try something different with them besides smoothing and varnishing and these instructions let me make them a lot more interesting.It will take more than just a whittling or pocket knife, though. You'll need some woodcarving tools: a regular woodcarving knife, a 1/4" v-tool, a 1/4" and a 1/8" gouge, and for safety a Kevlar glove to protect your hand. The book even has advice on how to select a stick for carving.One suggestion I have: before you start each step, pencil in the cuts you are going to make on the wood. Once you get more experienced you probably won't have to do this. The instructions are simple and clear and well illustrated. Carefully follow each step and you'll be successful in carving a wood spirit face just like a pro!

It's a great asset for learning how to wittle

I have never carved a thing in my life! I'm a 40 year old female that can't even draw a straight line with a ruler. Nevertheless, I've always been intrigued by wood spirits/relief carving and I have always "seen" these faces in found wood. Thus, I finally decided to purchase a few tools and several books to see if maybe, just maybe, I could make it happen.Of the books I purchased, this was the one I chose to begin with. I picked up a branch from one of the pines in my yard and began following the detailed procedures in this book and now I have a fairly awesome looking wood spirit displayed in my living room! We all need a place to begin and I found this lil instruction manual to be the perfect first step for me.Note: It does ONLY SHOW you how to carve the picture you see on the cover... however, if you are a beginner, this is a great place to start! Once started, the possibilities are endless and of course the wood itself will dictate the finer details.

Good book

This is a fast read little book, with a clear look afterward at the carving details. I as a new carver found it helpful. My only more or lest down about it is the photos are a little light in contrast for us older folks vision. Worth the buy for new carvers.- Mike

I had never done any wood carving, wanted to but ...you know "get around to it". Well I did, and if you take this step by step and read the instructions, it works. You can buy the wood , any slight differences that happen I called them creative inspiration . It was alot of fun, looking forward to my next one. Book is really detailed, clear photos and instructions and step by step. Great way to spend an afternoon on the verandah with a cool tea.

Received this small soft-bound booklet and was most impressed with the straight forward approach Mr. Johnson went about explaining how to carve a wood spirit into a walking stick. The step by step tutorial was simplistic yet most imformative and I would recommend this booklet to anyone looking to get into cane and walking stick carving. Lots of pictures and a small galary of different facial expressions. Diffenently a good addition to my evergrowing library of carving and woodburning books and magazines.

just started carving. I've been woodworking for 6 years or so. This little book/pamplet is a step by step guide via pictures and explanations to make your garden variety woodspirit. Then it shows some variations and then your imagination can take over just by using the basics shown in this book. So far mine look like a pancake with a nose on it...but at least now it HAS a nose! Like any new skill, just takes a little time teamed up with this excellent guide.

I have been a wood carver for some time now, mostly carving wood spirits in Pine Knots, a hobby I started when I lived in America. Then, I saw a number of videos on YouTube for carvers making walking sticks and hiking staffs and wanted to have a go at this myself. I found much of the existing "tuition" to be quite poor. A really good DVD was ruined by the use of power tools I don't have and can't afford, things like that. Then I heard about Skylar Johnsons book. I was in such a hurry to buy it that I didn't hesitate to check the price. I paid about £18 for it. The book itself is fantastic, very clear in it's illustrations and instructions, it quite honestly is the best craft book I own - and I have a lot of them!!! I then found out that the book was being printed by a new publisher, stocks were not hard to find (as my seller claimed) and the price was unchanged from the original shelf price - Around $10 U.S. Dollars (about £7 quid!!)BUY the book - it's superb....but shop around for the right price and don't fall for the "hard to find" or "out of print" rubbish.

great little book it has helped me sort out the problem with carving the nose area I could never get it quite right got a few nice tips in this little book and it's looking a lot better.