Easy Wood Carving with Dremel Multitool or Rotary Tool
I would love to do more wood carving projects and was quite surprised at how easy wood carving can be if you use a Dremel Multitool or Rotary Tool.
25/07/2019
I found a brilliant YouTube video that shows how to carve this owl design on a tree branch. The entire carving from start to finish is done with a Dremel
This wood carving was done using a Dremel Fortiflex, but you can achieve exactly the same effect with any of the Dremel Multitool or Rotary Tools.
I have a Dremel 4000 (shown below) and a Dremel 8200 (cordless) Multitool that I like to use for all my wood carving, engraving and crafty DIY projects. If you add the FlexiShaft attachment, it makes it so much easier to work when using the tool and relieves hand fatigue. You can purchase the complete Dremel 4000 Kit as shown below @ R1900.00, while stocks last.
HERE'S HOW:
1. To start off your project, select a nice thick branch for your design. Some woods are much harder than others, especially your garden variety trees, so do a test run beforehand to make sure the wood is not too hard and will be fairly easy to work.
GOOD TO KNOW: It always help to plan your design or have a good idea of what you want to do before you begin carving the wood.
2. Use a Dremel 9931 6.4mm Pointed Tungsten Carbide Cutter to outline the shape of your design, as you can see below.
3. Once you have removed sufficient material to start carving the main image, use a sanding wheel to smooth the finish.
4. Now you are ready to start your main carving and you can use the Dremel 9931 to rough out the shape and remove quite a bit of the material around this.
5. Continue to remove material until you have a rough outline of the shape.
6. For the curved areas, switch to a Dremel 144 7.8mm High Speed Cutter. This is not the same as the carving bit below, but I am substituting bits for those that are readily available at any Builders Warehouse.
7. Carving out the detail can be done by switching bits depending on what needs to be removed or added.
GOOD TO KNOW: You will use the Dremel 9931 6.4mm Pointed Tungsten Carbide Cutter or the Dremel 9911 3.2mm Tungsten Carbide Pointed Cutter for most of the rough work.
8. When you need to remove larger or deeper areas of wood, use a Dremel 115 7.8mm High Speed Cutter.
9. The Dremel High Speed Cutter is a smaller bit and lets you add more intricate details.
10. There are different sizes of Dremel Engraving cutters (small point, medium point, large point) that you can use to add all the finishing touches to your wood carving.
Finishing
Once your wood carving is done, finish your creation with linseed oil, wax, sealer or varnish, as per your own preference.
