How to Carve a Gnome With Just a Knife

You need one piece of basswood, 1 inch by 1 inch by 6 inches, and a carving knife. That is the whole kit. Alec uses a Flexcut Carbon Jack here but says outright that any decent carving knife will do the job.

Basswood is the standard beginner wood for a reason. It is soft enough to cut cleanly with hand pressure alone and it has almost no grain figure to fight you.

Measure about an inch and a quarter down from the top and cut a V-groove around the blank. A V-cut is two equal but opposite angles: go in on a slight downward angle, then come back at the mirror of that angle so the chip pops free.

Keep it shallow, somewhere between an eighth and a quarter inch deep. Work the outside edges first, then connect them.

Now go back around the same line with the blade held straight in rather than angled. That vertical cut is a stop cut, and it gives every later cut somewhere to end.

What you are building is a small shelf running right around the blank. That shelf is the brim of the hat and the top of the face.

Above the shelf, start shaving the corners off. The motion is exactly like sharpening a pencil with a knife: long slices running up toward the tip.

Do the two sides first, then the front. The back matters less on a quick project like this, but taper it at least a little so the hat reads as a cone from every angle.

Go between your first cuts and knock down the corners that are left, then go back over the original groove to sharpen it up again.

Aim for four roughly equal planes running up to the point. Keep the hat standing straight up rather than flopping to one side, because a leaning point reads as a wizard and a straight one reads as a gnome.

Come down about an inch, maybe an inch and an eighth, from the brim. Make another stop cut straight into the wood, then a relief cut angling up to meet it.

Go back and forth, stop cut then relief cut, until the chip releases. This line is the bottom of the moustache.

Turn the blade on its side and cut a shallow V running upward on the left, then mirror it on the right.

Those two angled cuts curve the line you just made into a smile shape. That curve is what turns a plain notch into a moustache.

Come back up to the hat brim and measure a quarter inch down. Cut another stop cut and relief cut pair on that line.

You now have two lines below the brim with a band of wood between them. That band becomes the nose.

Draw a light centre line down the face if it helps. Then make a scooping cut on each side of that line, pushing the blade through while giving it a slight turn as it travels.

Taking the wood back on either side leaves the nose standing proud. This cut feels awkward until it does not, so expect to practise it.

Make a V-cut at the outside edge of each smile, angling downward, then run a line down each side. Two opposing angles again, worked back and forth until the chip drops, which cuts the channel separating the moustache from the beard.

Finish by taking the flatness out of the body, knocking the sharp corners off and shaving away any saw marks left on the blank. Your gnome is done.