Wood Carving Merit Badge

Overview

As with any art, wood carving involves learning the basics of design, along with material selection and tools and techniques, as well as wood-carving safety. The requirements of the Wood Carving merit badge introduce Scouts to an enjoyable hobby and that can become a lifetime activity.

Requirements

(1) Do the following:
- (a) Explain to your counselor the hazards you are most likely to encounter while wood carving, and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, or lessen these hazards.
  
  Resources: Top 7 Safety Secrets I Wish I’d Known Before My First Cut! (video)
- (b) Show that you know first aid for injuries that could occur while wood carving, including minor cuts and scratches and splinters.
  
  Resources: The Emergency First Aid Kit for Woodworkers Need! (video)
(2) Do the following:
- (a) Earn the Totin’ Chip recognition.
  
  Resources: Totin’ Chip (website)
- (b) Discuss with your counselor your understanding of the Safety Checklist for Carving.
  
  Resources: Safety Checklist for Carving (PDF)
(3) Do the following:
- (a) Explain to your counselor, orally or in writing, the care and use of five types of tools that you may use in a carving project.
  
  Resources: Basic Hand Carving Tools Explained (video)
- (b) Tell your counselor how to care for and use several types of sharpening devices, then demonstrate that you know how to use these devices.
  
  Resources: Essential Sharpening Tools Every Wood Carver Needs (video), How To Use a Sharpening Stone | Knives (video), Fast and Easy Knife Stropping Guide (video)
(4) Using a piece of scrap wood or a project on which you are working, show your counselor that you know how to do the following:
- (a) Paring cut
  
  Resources: Pairing Cut Safety Whittling With a Knife (video)
- (b) Basic cut and push cut
  
  Resources: Push Cut Tutorial | Beginner’s Wood Carving Guide (video)
- (c) V cut
  
  Resources: V-Shaped Cut Technique |Essential Carving Technique | Whittling Basics (video)
- (d) Stop cut or score line
  
  Resources: How To Carve a Stop Cut | Woodcarving Fundamentals (video), Incise Woodcarving || The Basics of How to Incise Wood Carve “Line Carving” (video)
(5) Tell why different woods are used for different projects. Explain why you chose the type of wood you did for your projects in requirements 6 and 7.

Resources: Beginners Guide to Wood Carving - Lets Talk Wood (video), My Top 5 Favorite Carving Woods (video)
(6) Plan your own or select a project from the Wood Carving merit badge pamphlet and complete a simple carving in the round.

Resources: Making Your Own Carving Patterns—Whittling Tips for Beginners (video), 5-Minute Wizard (website), How To Whittle a Simple Bear—Step-by-Step Beginner Wood Carving Project (video), How To Carve a Arrowhead Neckerchief Slide Part 1 Carving Basics (video), What Should You Whittle? Whittling Tips for Beginners (video)
(7) Complete a simple low-relief OR a chip carving project.

Resources: Beginning Woodcarving—How To Carve a Basic Flower With Mary May (video), Chip Carving w/ Wayne Barton —Introduction (video), Chip Carving: Tips for Beginners (video)

Resources

Note: This is an unofficial archive of Scouts BSA Merit Badges that was automatically extracted from the Scouting America website and may contain errors.