How to Hand Carve a Whale

Nothing says coastal New England like carved whales and carved Cape Cod signs. Traveling up and down the coast, this imagery is almost as common as clam shell driveways, lobster pots and buoys. In this post, I'll describe how to carve a wooden whale by hand. I'm carving my whale out of pine shelving I found in the trash near my apartment. It's relativly clear of knots and because it's pine, it's easy to carve. Plus it's free!

First I glued the boards together, clamping them tightly.
I decided to carve a Minke whale. To get the right pattern, I printed a picture off the internet and blew it up on the photocopier. Then I traced the outline onto the board. I cut the shape on the jig saw. To shape the whale, I removed material from the edges, working my way towards the middle of the piece. Always be sure to carve with the grain, removing a small amount of material with each pass. Always use sharp, high quality carving chisels. Sharpen them frequently and if you're carving hardwoods, sharpen them very frequently. I also tapered the whale from the front to the back, just like the body of a real whale.
After shaping, I sanded, sanded and sanded some more. Then I primed it. Bare wood always looks better when it's primed before it's painted.
And the final product!
This project isn't as hard as it seems and you can make it with scrap pine you have laying around. I had black and white paint already, so the cost for this project was essentially $0. And what a handsome whale to display in your home!