How To Carving Balsa Wood

Well, balsa or balsa wood is one of the most popular wood types in the world and it is perhaps the very type that can be worked with more easy and convenient. Have you ever seen various kinds of wood models, structures or dolls in the market? Generally speaking, it is easy to find the balsa products both in domestic and international markets. There are many producers of the balsa products. However, there are also many people who are interested in carving or mading the wood models by themselves. Actually, you can carve it by yourself easily if you do it according to the following tips and steps.
The carving work requires patience and carefulness. What's more, there are some things that you will need during your carving process. For example, you may need an X-Acto or carving knife, straightedge and pencil and the 120-grit sandpaper. Prepare all the things required above before you carving the balsa. Remember to keep patient during the whole process.
First of all, you should decide which kind of model do you want, the animal, plant, people or something else. You should draw the design that you decide to carve onto the balsa wood with the use of pencil. Paint it carefully to include every detailed part.
Second, use the X-Acto knife or carving knife to cut the design out of the balsa wood. And you should cut against a straightedge for any straight sections that need to be cut. Hold your knife at a slight angle and carve around the edges of the cut-out design. This step can help carve a realistic appearance for your design.
Third, create a point along the edges. You should turn the cut-out structure over and place on a flat surface. Angle the blade again. Cut around the edges from this side to create a point along edges. Then you should insert the knife tip into any design element and carve a thin line all the way around each design element.
Forth, you should carve a line from edge to edge of your design element. This can be helpful when you carving eyes into a balsa wood face. Pull the edges from the line to remove the entire interior of each design element carefully. Use the 120-grit sandpaper to shape the edges of the design. What should be noticed during your shaping work is that you should sand carefully and gently to avoid the break to your design.