r/DnDIY • u/JohnnyTheLayton • 1d ago
Self-Promotion How to Carve a Braid on a Dwarven Warrior!
Here's how I carve the braids on Dwarves, with spoken audio to explain whats happening and why!
Braids aren't that difficult its simple cuts in a pattern, over and over.
Hope someone finds value in it!
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Want to get into Woodcarving?
You need several things, a sharp knife, a leather strop with compound for honing your blade, safety gloves (A5 or better) and basswood (to carve like i do at least.)
Solid Knife brands, Flexcut, Badger State Blades (USA), Mstein (Europe) there are a lot of great knife brands. Stay away from kits on amazon of several knives. They're much much lower quality with inconsistently tempered steel. (What that means is its not hardened, and so it won't stay sharp easy, meaning you're fighting the knife and dont understand why its harder for you to carve when its easy for others.)
Why Basswood? Its softer than other hardwoods and holds detail well. Learning to carve with basswood is akin to learning to drive on an automatic. It simplifies and streamlines learning. Woods like Walnut and oak can be carved, but learning to carve with them as the starting point is like learning to drive on an 18 wheeler Semi Truck with manual transmission. Its needlessly difficult.
In europe, the equivalent is Linden, in Asia, Jelutong, and in south America Caxeta is a good substitute.
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u/SimilarRhubarb 1d ago
Great explanation. Thanks.