There’s a great kid in my neighborhood, Conner, who pops over to play with Chip, help stack wood, or look for fishing worms under logs. He’s also taken an interest in carving and was excited when I showed him Frank Egholm’s book Easy Wood Carving for Children: Fun Whittling Projects for Adventurous Kids.
I met Frank at Täljfest in 2019, and he gave me a gift of his wonderful book. Conner now has his own copy and he stopped over a couple days ago asking about a paper towel holder he saw in the book. He liked it and thought it would make a good holder for his spools of fishing line. We hunted around the woodpile and went into the shop.
It was a fun little project that introduced Conner to sawing and drilling a hole with a brace and auger bit in addition to knifework. He’s still thinking about carving a little face on the top, and that little twig might be good for hanging a favorite fishing lure. He even made a second one for his mom — for paper towels.
Conner shaped the tenon to size with the knife. Frank has some great suggestions in the book for making the knife a little more safe, such as grinding back the sharp tip. We’ll do that on another knife sometime.
Many of the projects in the book take little time. Frank does a great job of considering the perspective of a child, and the book is written in a welcoming and fun tone that provides lots of encouragement.
As skills expand, there are more challenging projects that will engage and satisfy minds and hands.
You probably know some creative and crafty kids….
David Fisher, Carving Explorations 
what a neat thing for both of you–and a nicely designed book as well–
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Awesome Dave. The hands of a young man.No scars or arthritis yet. Can imagine the great things they will do in a lifetime.With someone like you around they are started in the right direction.
Bill
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Dave,
This is great!
Learning from a book, not a gadget; hand-eye coordination at an early age; different hand tools; he and his mom will each have something actually created
And the best part “We’ll do that on another knife sometime.” It sounds like you are not too anxious to modify your tools.
As always, thanks!
Pete
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Thanks Dave.
I just ordered this book on Amazon. I have a nine year old. At times she really loves woodworking and over the years she has gotten a decent tools set. I’ve seen her whittling with the Boy Scout Knife I got her when she turned seven. Looks like a Mora knife is in her near future. This book from what I saw should be helpful for her to learn how to safely whittle (with my supervision) and has all kinds of cool project ideas.
Any other kid woodworking book ideas by the way?
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Glad to hear all that, Joe! I would highly recommend the whittling books by Chris Lubkemann. Lots of fun designs especially focused on carving from twigs and branches. Animals, whistles, toys, and all sorts of things. All done with a pocket knife.
Also, Roy Underhill’s book The Woodwright’s Companion has a chapter called Whimmydiddling (or something). It has some fun toy ideas for kids.
I wrote a post a few years ago with some ideas, some inspired by Roy’s TV show: https://davidffisher.com/2017/12/24/carve-some-toys/
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Thanks for the book idea Dave! My nine year old granddaughter has taken a big interest in carving.
I’ve been carving for about 3 years now so we will both learn from it. I’m 65 now and a bit of a slow learner!!!
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That will be some special time with your granddaughter, Henry. Happy carving!
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