Woodworking vs Wood Carving | What’s the Difference? | 2023

May 2, 2021

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Woodworking and wood carving are somewhat interchangeable terms, although woodworking relates to the broader skill of creating items from wood. Wood carving is a more specific technique, involving careful removal and sculpting of wooden material to produce intricate shapes and reliefs.

What is Woodworking?

Woodworking is a broad term that relates to a variety of different techniques. In a general sense, it refers to the art of producing items from wood material. Woodworking can involve producing simple joinery or small craft items, but can also refer to more elaborate activities such as producing furniture or cabinetry.

Basic woodworking techniques involve a key line-up of manual tools, including chisels, clamps, claw hammers and squares. Power tools may also be used, with drills, miter saws, band saws and sanders all regularly deployed. Various types of woods can be used when undertaking woodwork tasks, including softwoods such as pine and cedar. Hardwoods are the preferred option if you are looking to make big items like furniture, with ash, maple and oak all popular choices of material.

What is Wood Carvings?

Technically speaking, wood carving falls under the umbrella term of woodworking. However, wood carving relates to a specific technique and usually involves a limited set of tools. When wood carving, a cutting tool or chisel is used to remove surface material for the piece of wood are looking to carve.

Some wood carvers use a single knife and chisel in one hand, leaving their second hand free for a mallet that can be used to drive the sharp edge of their cutting tool or chisel deeper into the material they are carving. Sometimes, wood carvers use two chisels, with one tool operated by each hand. As a technique, wood carving is generally used to produce intricate shapes, such as ornamentation in panels and or reliefs. It can also be used to carve sculptures and figurines.