About Carve Small

Carve Small started as a set of notes kept on the back of a shopping list. The first year of carving involved a lot of ruined blocks and a lot of advice that assumed a workshop, a bench and a chisel rack. The notes were an attempt to write down what actually applied to a person carving on a folding table in a flat.

The site keeps that scope. Every guide is about hand tools, small pieces and limited space. If a technique needs a bandsaw or a shop with three metres of clear floor, it is out of scope here even if it is the better technique in a real workshop.

How the guides are written

Each guide starts from a mistake worth avoiding, because that is how the craft is actually learned. The structure is consistent: what is going on in the material, what to do about it, and where the rule stops applying. Nothing is presented as the only correct method, since carving traditions disagree with each other on almost everything except sharpness.

Guides are revised when something in them turns out to be wrong or incomplete. The revision date at the top of each page reflects the last substantive change, not an automatic timestamp.

What this site is not

It is not a shop. Carve Small does not sell tools, wood, plans or courses, and it does not take payment for mentioning a product. Where a specific tool type is named, it is because the type matters — a shallow gouge behaves differently from a deep one — not because of any arrangement with a maker.

It is also not a substitute for working next to someone experienced. Reading about a paring cut and making one are different activities, and the second one is where the learning is.

Getting in touch

Corrections are welcome and get read. If a guide contradicts your experience at the bench, that is worth knowing about — the contact page goes to a person, not a queue.