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The following pages are an excerpt from the book,
Three Bird Carving Projects: Power Carving Instruction for the Beginner
by Tom Baldwin
Copyright © 2026 by We Like Wildfowl Carving welikewildfowlcarving.com
Materials & Equipment
Art projects always involve working with some kind of materials. For bird carving, the most obvious material is the wood. All the tutorials in this book are power carving instructions using tupelo wood. I highly recommend using tupelo when using this book for the best possible results. Tupelo is very suitable for power carving. The tight grain pattern gives this soft wood an almost “composite” nature that allows for carving detail. Its strength is helpful for thin areas such as wings, tails, and beaks.
You will need gesso for sealing the carving once you are done carving and ready to start painting. Gesso is a sealing medium mixed with high pigment and fillers. It prepares the surface by giving the color paints something to bind to so they will not soak into the carving.
To set the eyes in the head, you will use modeling paste.
Gesso and modeling paste are both available at local art and craft retailers as well as online.
Paint and brushes will also be necessary. I will provide more information about paint and brushes in a later chapter. The acrylic paints I use for my bird carving are designed to dry in a dull, or “matte,” finish. These kinds of acrylics are usually not available in a typical arts and crafts store but are available from wood carving suppliers online. END
This picture shows the materials you will need for making bird feet. You can find the copper wire (30 gauge), brass rod (1/16″) and CA glue (Cyanoacrylate “super glue”) in hobby and arts and crafts stores. The Kneadatite Blue/Yellow epoxy putty is available from some carving suppliers online.
Last but not least, you will need glass eyes. You can purchase these from carving suppliers on the Internet. Check your pattern for the eye size and color before you order.
You can use all sorts of tools and equipment for bird carving. In this book I will work with the fewest number of tools you need to finish your projects. I have used this list of tools with beginner classes with very good results. The list may look small, but these tools will do the job and keep your costs to a minimum.
With power carving, your first concern should be your health and safety. First and foremost, you will need eye protection, so use safety glasses if you don’t already wear prescription glasses. You also want to protect yourself from the dust you create as you carve. A face mask is recommended, and so is a reliable dust collector. Pictured here is a table-top dust collection box. As you work in front of it, the fans pull the dust particles into the filter collector. There are different dust collectors available at variable costs. This is the most affordable. Also pictured is a magnifier lamp that you can attach to the dust collector.
The kit pictured here has a variety of diamond cutters, each with a 3/32″ shaft. You will use these for fine detail and undercutting.
The micro-motor pictured here is just one of many power carvers that are available. I selected this type for its basic operation and affordability. The dial on the main unit controls the speed of rotation for the hand piece, where you can insert many different carving tips. The unit also has a forward and reverse rotation control.
The micro motor hand piece has a 3/32″ collet. The tips you want for it will have a 3/32″ shaft. The tips pictured here are the Saburr-tooth rough cutters, one with a flat top and one with a round top. You will need both tips. The other tip is a small texturing stone used for etching feathers.
This is a burning tool with a thermostat to control how much heat it generates. Again, there are other burning tools available besides the model shown. They all perform well and will be fine for your carvings. I recommend the two burning pens pictured here. The one at the top of the photo is a “large skew” used for feather barb burning. The one at the bottom of the photo is a large skew tip that has been bent at an angle. This tip is sometimes called the “Guge” pen, named affectionately for Bob Guge, the artist who developed it. With a Guge pen you can edge burn the layered feathers of the wings, tail, and feather shafts.
When you look over the patterns later in this book, you will see lots of numbers referencing measurements in millimeters. To get the size of your carving right, you will need to measure it properly. This caliper, called a micrometer, will do the job. It will never leave your workbench because you will always be using it. The sanding stick in the photo is very useful for hard-to-reach undercuts in the tail and wing feather groups. It is also great for sanding and lightly shaping bird beaks.
The tools pictured here are primary ones you will use to make bird feet, which I will discuss later in the book. You will need a small hammer, wire cutters, needle-nose pliers, a #110 X-Acto knife, a mini hand drill, and a 3/32″ shank double-cut carbide bur.
You can get most of the feet-making tools at a local retailer or arts and crafts store. The rest will come from carving suppliers you can find on the Internet. If you do a search you will find many different companies that sell carving supplies. Most of them make it very easy to shop and order supplies online. You will also find ads for suppliers in Wildfowl Carving Magazine. Amazon or eBay may be sources for some tools as well.
Blanks
The first step with a carving project is to rough out the blank from a block of wood, using your pattern as a guide. Some carving suppliers offer pre-cut blanks for those who do not have access to a band saw. If you want to cut your own patterns, there are a couple of basic band saws you can use. A table-top model is one type, but it limits how tall a block you can cut. Table-tops are smaller and usually offer a cutting height of three and a half inches. That should be adequate if you’re going to carve only small songbirds. A floorstand band saw is larger and can cut a taller block of wood. Some models offer an extension to increase the cutting height more. Whatever you decide, I recommend doing some shopping and seeing some good demonstrations of the models that interest you. Always review the safety rules in your manual! It never hurts to find someone who can show you how to make using a band saw safe and enjoyable.
Once you have a good side profile and a good top profile of the bird you are doing, get some chipboard (I use cereal boxes), some carbon paper, and a pencil.
Place your carbon paper over the chipboard and your desired pattern over the carbon paper. Trace the edges of your top and side profiles onto the chipboard.
When you lift the carbon paper away you should have an outline of your pattern.
Get a good pair of scissors and cut out the pattern on the lines you have drawn.
I usually mark the two parts as A and B with a number representing which pattern it is. This example is my fourth bluebird pattern.
Place the cutout, with the grain of the wood running the length of the pattern. Make sure that the side and top patterns line up.
Once you have traced the outlines on the block of wood, double-check to ensure they line up. Make sure you have the head lined up right, too.
The top profile is usually the easiest to cut because it’s an outline with simple curves. I will cut this first.
After cutting the top profile, gather the three pieces of wood together. While holding the pieces together, turn the block on its side and cut the side profile.
Since the side profile has a raised area for the wings, I will draw a line from the edge of the block to the intersecting part of the pattern.
I will now cut that off and throw away the little cutoff pieces.
Continue cutting the rest of the pattern out and discard the cutoff pieces.
Start cutting the other side of the block.
After you are done cutting the pattern out of the block, remove the cutoffs to reveal your bird cutout, or blank.
This is the bluebird blank.
Reference
The first step with a carving project is to rough out the blank from a block of wood, using your pattern as a guide. Some carving suppliers offer pre-cut blanks for those who do not have access to a band saw. If you want to cut your own patterns, there are a couple of basic band saws you can use. A table-top model is one type, but it limits how tall a block you can cut. Table-tops are smaller and usually offer a cutting height of three and a half inches. That should be adequate if you’re going to carve only small songbirds. A floorstand band saw is larger and can cut a taller block of wood. Some models offer an extension to increase the cutting height more. Whatever you decide, I recommend doing some shopping and seeing some good demonstrations of the models that interest you. Always review the safety rules in your manual! It never hurts to find someone who can show you how to make using a band saw safe and enjoyable.
Feather Layout & Burning
As you do the projects in this book, you will lay out lots of feather arrangements and do plenty of feather burning and stoning. The two photos here will clearly show the right way and the wrong way to go about this.
This is the wrong way. The first thing to notice is the layout for the feather area. It is very symmetrical, overly proportional, and basically resembles fish scales. Look closely at how the feathers have been burned. If you look really closely at a feather you will see that it does not look like this at all. The feather design in this photo looks more like a tree than a feather. I have illustrated these two incorrect approaches because I see this with new carvers all the time.
Note the layout here. When doing the feather
layout, try to make the beginning and end point of the feather curve a little differently for every two or three feathers you draw. Vary the size of the feather slightly every so often. However, do not go too crazy. Always keep some good reference handy to review so you can keep your layout believable. The part of a feather that we see in the layout is really the end of the feather, with most of the feather lying underneath the many feathers on top. When texturing or burning the feather pattern, I
recommend starting with a line down the middle (the shaft) and continuing the process with a line that angles slightly to the left of the center. Then go back and repeat the process with a slight angle to the right of the shaft. To help understand how this appears, take a look at the next real feather you find. Take a piece of paper and lay it over the entire feather except for the last half inch or so. Leave that part visible and take a really good look at it because this is the part of that feather that you will see in the feather layout on a carving.
Making Feet
Not all bird carvings need feet—but when they do, you want to get them looking right. This chapter shows the easier method for making feet for the bluebird. Some carvers use soldering techniques and even welding, but I feel that would be a difficult way to introduce you to making bird feet. The process that is shown requires fewer tools, too.
You will need the following materials: copper wire, brass rod, super glue (CA glue), and the blue/yellow epoxy putty.
The tools needed are needle-nose pliers, wire snip, micro hand drill, #110 X-Acto knife, small ball-peen hammer, and a 3/32″ shaft, double-carbide bur. You will also need a small vise.
Measure the tarsus of the bird leg from the pattern.
Add ¾ of an inch to each end of the tarsus length. These extra sections will insert into the bird and the mount. Use a permanent marker to mark where you will cut the brass rod. Cut the brass rod to the marked length.
At the points you marked, bend the brass rod with the needle-nose pliers to the angle shown above. I call it a “lazy Z.”
Measure each of the toes and mark the copper wire to include two toes’ lengths. Add about an inch to that length and cut the wire. (Pictured: I usually cut wire for two sets of toes in case I need spares.)
With the needle-nose pliers, bend each end of the copper wire to a half-round “claw” shape.
Place the copper wire on a small vise and use the ball-peen hammer to pound the bent end flat.
Use the carbide bur to shape gently the nail for the toe. Always keep the rotation of the micro motor toward the end of the wire. Otherwise, it will grab the wire and bend your toe.
When you are finished, you should have a good selection of wires with toenails on them.
Open up the blue/yellow epoxy putty and cut off equal parts of each color.
Take the two equal parts of the epoxy and knead them together until the mix turns into a true green color.
Pinch off a piece of the green putty that is about the length of the wire toe and a little bit wider. Wrap it around the wire. Leave the nail of the toes exposed and add a small amount of putty behind the toe on the bottom for the toe pad.
Using the X-Acto knife, etch the toe joints and the side scale details into the putty.
Once you have your putty in the four pairs of toes epoxy detailed (or fleshed), lay them on a small piece of wax paper to dry. This takes about four hours.
Get a piece of brass rod that equals the length of the tarsus and lay it beside the “lazy Z” brass piece. Get a slab of the epoxy putty and begin rolling it over both pieces of brass rod.
Once you’ve covered both pieces of brass rod, knead the putty into a leg shape. This is another case of “less is more.” Use the putty sparingly and keep the leg thin.
Once again, take the X-Acto knife and etch in the markings and scales of the bird leg.
This is an example of what you should have when finished.
Review the pattern to confirm where you think the legs should go into the carving and mark the locations with a pencil.
Take the micro drill and hand drill a hole about ¾ of an inch deep for each leg location in the bird carving.
When the legs are dry, fit them into the carving. Do not glue them in yet.
Take the branch or stick that you have selected for your mount and mark the spots where you want to put the feet.
Using the micro drill, hand drill the two holes for the legs and fit the carving on the branch. Do not glue yet.
On a piece of paper, write labels for the individual toes, the heel, middle, inside, and outside. Place each toe by its title.
Cut each toe to the required length (as measured from your pattern) and return them by their names.
Add super glue to the branch ends of the legs and attach them to the branch.
Let this dry for about an hour and remove the bird carving from the legs.
Take a very small piece of green putty and place it on the leg where the heel will go.
Attach the heel and use the X-Acto knife to knead the heel into the leg.
Make a ball of the green putty about 1/8 of an inch in diameter and place it in the front part of the leg. Begin attaching the toes.
Using the X-Acto knife, knead the three toes into each leg.
Now all of the toes and the heels are attached. Set the branch aside and let it dry for about four hours.
Mix just a pinch of white paint with black to get a very dark gray. Use a #3 round brush to paint the legs with this color.
Once the paint dries, mix a lot of water with white paint to get a very watery white and lightly paint over the legs. This should enhance the scaling detail but lighten the legs only slightly.
Once the white has dried, take a liner and paint the scales of the leg and toes in the near black color you mixed earlier.
When the legs are dry and painted to your liking, glue the carving to the legs that are mounted on your habitat.