John Hein Woodcarver

08/03/2026

Butternut spoons. A beautiful wood that carves like Basswood.
Here's a tip.. when selecting wood orient the grain such that the growth rings are "U".
This will result in the bowl having concentric "U" rings as those in the photo.

07/30/2026

The making of a Loon ornament.
Before, during, and after.
Enjoy.

07/30/2026

A word on my experience with Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO). Why/when do use it? Refer to photos 2 carved blocks of Basswood. I applied BLO to one of them with a brush and as it has cured (dried) over several days, it has an obtained a slightly darker, orangish color and the grain is visible. The BLO has created a water resistant shell as evidenced by the droplets visible on the back of the carving. Water droplets on the other have soaked in. So should I wish for the grain to be visible through acrylic paint I would water down the paint and apply. Couldn't I just skip the BLO and just water down the acrylic? Yes, I could. However, the wood end grain would soak up more paint than other parts. Using BLO gives me more control over how much grain I want exposed.
Yes, BLO is susceptible to self-combustion when bundled up with rags or paper towels. I do not use rags as cotton tends to retain moisture better than paper. I spread used paper towels out on concrete to let them dry.

07/24/2026

What'cha doing John? At the Community Woodshop today cutting out 3 dozen of my Loom ornament bodies.

07/16/2026

The goal was to give our Christmas ornaments bright colors (I carve a lot of Cardinals) while allowing the grain to show through the paint. I started using water-soluble wood dye years ago as I was dissatisfied with watered down acrylics I had been using. The use of acrylics alongside the dye poses it's own challenges but I find the time and effort worthwhile. You can't get that vibrant blue using acrylics. For those interested I will post more on my process in the future.

07/14/2026

Picked up from a friend. These are corners cut off of 6"x6" Basswood logs before he turns them on his lathe. Some measure 1"x 1" x48", mixed in are 1.5" x 1.5 x48". Roughly 350 to 400 lineal feet. I will cut some to 4", others to 6" length. These triangular pieces are great for carving Gnomes and Santa "faces".

07/13/2026

Painting tip. I use a small jelly jar, filled with water, to rinse out my brushes while painting. I cut-out a piece of kitchen sponge to fit the bottom of the jar with the rough side facing up. It comes in handy when I want to clean paint out of the brush, especially rhe area where the bristles meet the metal ferrule.

07/09/2026

The calendar may say July but it seems that I am always carving a few Gnomes for the Christmas Market. I have a friend that turns square 6" Basswood logs on his lathe. He first removes the corners which leaves a nice 1" x 1" corner cuts for me to work with. I cut them to 4" long.

07/04/2026

Bucky!

07/04/2026