Carving With, Across, and Against the Wood Grain

One of the biggest lessons any beginner whittler and wood carver needs to learn is how to carve with the wood grain. Learning the differences on how to carve with, across and against the wood grain makes it easier to carve beautiful patterns and make smooth cuts.

This video illustrates the basics of how to carve the wood grain with a visual example to help you along with your carving journy.

00:00 Identifying the wood grain
00:36 With the Wood Grain
01:06 Across the Wood Grain
01:32 Against the Wood Grain
02:16 With, Across, Against
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Interested in learning more about wood grain? Check out this video!

New to whittling? Check out these videos for beginners!
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If you found the channel helpful and want to give me a gift as a thank you, you can send me some Pokemon cards! I've been collecting them since they started coming out and always enjoy getting new cards! You can use my Amazon Wish List to send me a booster pack or two :)

[CarvingisFun]

If you found the channel helpful and want to give me a gift as a thank you, you can send me some Pokemon cards!

[IDislikeHandles]

I watched your other videos but couldn't quite understand why going against the grain didn't work, but now it finally makes sense! The straw metaphor is really good for visualizing the cuts. Thank you for all the wood grain tutorials!

[revol_]

The moment you realize that you're handling sharp, dangerous tools everyday BUT you're not willing to damage straws to avoid getting on your wife's nerves 😂 relatable

[RustyFender]

Run your finger up the long grain, if it feels smooth you are going with the grain. Feels rough you are going agaist the grain. If you have difficulty deciding, wet the wood, wait a bit for the grain to raise then do the finger test. I use this technique in woodworking when using a hand plane, the last thing you want to do is run a hand plane agaist the grain!

[Kris__]

excellent video explaining wood grain. I was able to understand this very easy. loved the visual representation that was used lol

[whittling]

Very informative and effective video Brian! I'm going to mention it in the next episode of Wood Carving Weekly.

[Rlsmith]

Seeing you cut against the grain towards that exposed thumb made me wince a bit, LOL. Great video! :)

[randallhackworth]

I understand, and I understand that I was one of the people you made this video for me. What I don’t understand, is if I’m making say a really tall gnome. One-way is going to be far easier to cut then the other. How do I know which way to start with?

[AdamsArt]

Lol! I thought going against the wood grain was cutting through the grains making a right angle. 😂

[Isak]

so it's not about cutting from left to right or right to left, but more 'cut down not up'? or am I still misunderstanding? do I have to know what's up and down (like, the direction the tree was growing in if that makes sense)

[drsergen]

The only but from the last video that confused me was. I see the grain direction however I didn't figure out how to identify the short or long grain areas