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One day I’m going on a road trip through Scandi just to check out the boat museums (and stave churches). Probably. Little known fact, after migrating to England, Grinlin Gibbons spent his early career as a ship’s carver

Please post lots of photos. Any thoughts on visiting the Vasa ?

They definitely break most of the taste and decency rules for pre watershed broadcasting

Either you didn’t spot the mermaids or you’re trying to spare our blushes

Wet wood for wet heat (steam or boil green or pre-soaked timber). Dry heat for dry wood

Wings dint fall off, cabin windows unzipped….

They’re so close you could throw a blanket over them but I always liked how neat the jet intakes were on the Comet

If we are on a prettiest airliner diversion my vote is for the DeHaviland Comet. Surely one of the most beautiful planes of any type

Quick search finds Enfield woodcarving club. Dunno if that’s too far away but they may know a club nearer you?

Whatever works for you works . We all have our own method and every carver works differently from every other carver. I have taught carving and whittling to many, including sessions in primary schools, “have a go “ sessions in fetes and open days in colleges and museums and I offer my...

Alternatively, self preservation is the root of good technique. In all the classes I taught there was only 1 cut that needed a plaster and that was when one of my senior students reached past his knife to pick up his coffee mug. Top marks for keeping a good edge on his knife though. Some...

Incidentally the techniques using a thumb pivot are easily adapted to “whittling” with gouges, especially gouges with curved long profiles - spoon and sow-back gouges. You put your thumb in-canal and lever the gouge kinda down and forward then back and up

You must never put a part of yourself in the path a blade will take if it slips, or more likely, if the wood fails and the blade flies through the space the timber was occupying. The one that makes me shout at pupils is anything in the lap using a leg as a temporary work bench. Femoral artery...

The page on basic cuts. The cut I find most useful is a see-saw action where you place the thumb tip (of the hand holding the workpiece) at the end of the knife handle and lock it (your thumb) straight, then pull the handle toward you. This cuts a very small chip with great power. The cut is...

I may have read this book at least once, or maybe twice

I never got on with flex cut as the handles lock your hand in one grip. I like a wood-handle Sloyd type with a 2 inch (short) blade but I have tried many makes and shapes over the years. The Tangerman books give great advice on blade selection and the main types of cut used in whittling. Your...

I have the Chris Pye book, you need to take what works for you, every carver has their own method. I also studied calligraphy. The advice on not using computer fonts is good advice. If you are in any way serious about letter carving, make some dipping pens and play around with them. The...

Once the slab is stable, start by wicking in runny cyano (superglue). This binds the very tip of the split, reached where even warmed-up epoxy doesn’t. I like to fill shakes with layers of shavings and PVA . Surprisingly strong, stable and difficult to spot if done well

It seems to me that the trial cuts are too wide, resulting in correspondingly deeper cuts. The hardest part of letter carving is the calligraphy. My last lettering commission took twice as long to design and draw than it did to actually carve. Practice on printed-out alphabets/letters/words...

Really struggling with this. Our kids got a bit carried away and the package ended up north of 20kg, though we managed to squeeze everything into a box 30cm x 50cm x 60cm. Haven’t managed to find the shipper ChaiLatte mentioned. Don’t mind send it overland anyone able to supply a company name?