20 Free DIY Wood Carving Patterns You Can Create Today (with Pictures)

Whether you’re just getting into the craft or you’ve been doing it for years, woodcarving is a very rewarding art form that requires a ton of skill and can take decades to realize fully. It’s a great way to pass the time while keeping your eyes and fingers sharp and making a lot of great artwork along the way.

No matter what skill level you’re at now, learning how to carve wood will only become easier and improve your skill if you keep carving and working at your craft. To help you do that, we’ve gathered 20 of the best wood carving patterns. We’ve also included a brief synopsis of each one so you know what you’re getting into and can see how difficult each project is before attempting it.

DIY Wood Carving Patterns

1. Simple Wood Spirit by Buckskin066

Wood spirit carvings look incredible but seem pretty intimidating, especially to a newer woodcarver. But if you’re looking for an easier way to learn, follow along with Buckskin066 as he takes you through carving this Simple Wood Spirit.

As a beginner, a pattern may not be enough. You need step-by-step instructions, and this is one of the best wood carving patterns for beginners since it will walk you through every step of the process in detail to help you carve your first wood spirit.

2. Ornate Leaf Pattern by Teardrops on Roses

Carving patterns is intricate work, and this ornate leaf pattern is a great way to help push your pattern carving skills over the next plateau. It has a fair amount of detail without going overboard, so it’s well-suited for intermediate and more advanced woodcarvers. It will be a test of any carver’s skills, but if you manage to complete it, the result will be extremely rewarding.

3. Ornate Pattern by Peter Follansbee

This is another Ornate Pattern, this time by Peter Follansbee. This series of interconnected rings with a turbine-like shape inside is perfect for carving along trim pieces or other long stretches of wood that need decoration. It’s an ornate pattern that doesn’t go crazy, though some difficult elements will help develop your skills further. Intermediate carvers can likely tackle the project with patience, but it’s best accomplished by advanced woodworkers.

4. Carved Flowers by Tumbled Rose

If you’re looking for a delicate project with loads of nuance, these Carved Flowers by Tumbled Rose are ideal. At first glance, it doesn’t appear to be the most complex work of wood carving. But if you take a closer look, you’ll see that the petals of the flowers have detail that won’t be easy to replicate.

5. Wood Spirit from Pinterest

This Wood Spirit from Pinterest could be carved into a table leg, a candle holder, or a decoration. It may look fantastic, but it’s not a difficult carving project. If you have basic carving skills and tools you should be able to make this one work out. It will take some time since there is a bit of detail in the eyebrows and the beard hair, but overall, it’s a very manageable project for any intermediate-level woodcarver.

6. Wooden Gnome from Pinterest

Are you ready to take on a larger and more complex project now that you have the fundamentals fully established? Try this Wooden Gnome from Pinterest. It’s a great way to test and expand your skills without getting into ultra-detailed work. There are going to be difficult areas, like the beard and the ears, but overall, it’s a manageable project for any advanced woodcarver who’s looking for something new to keep them occupied.

7. Easy Elephant Pattern by Tumbled Rose

As a great choice for getting into more three-dimensional carvings, this Easy Elephant Pattern by Tumbled Rose has some complex shaping to contend with but no advanced detailing. The trunk has a few texture lines to carve, but that’s about it. However, getting the shape of the ears, feet, head, and trunk right will be a test of your skill. Stay patient, and remember to have fun while you’re carving it!

8. Detailed Engraved Flower by Fine Woodworking

This Detailed Engraved Flower by Fine Woodworking can be carved by hand, but it’s better to have a little external help with some of these deep lines and intricate details. For that reason, this is one of our favorite Dremel wood carving patterns, and the Dremel is a perfect tool for achieving some of the shaping and lines. Even with all the right tools, this is a challenging project that will require a lot of skill to nail the fine details.

9. Hedgehog Carving from Pinterest

What could be cuter than a hedgehog? This Hedgehog Carving from Pinterest may be! It’s an excellent project for beginners since there’s very little detail, but it’s great to show off to friends and loved ones.

10. Basswood Mountain Cabin from Pinterest

This Basswood Mountain Cabin from Pinterest is one of the coolest carvings we’ve seen while putting this list together. It has complex features, with lots of detail in the thatched roof and several lines representing the wood beams used in the home’s construction.

This is a very unique project that looks awesome on its own. It will test any carver’s skills, but it’s a project worth devoting hours to since it’s such an uncommon project.

11. How to Carve a Wooden Elephant from Pinterest

Let’s take a moment to check out a more beginner-friendly carving pattern with this detailed drawing that shows you How to Carve a Wooden Elephant from Pinterest. The drawing contains all the information you need to turn a block of shapeless, lifeless wood into a still-lifeless but definitely no longer shapeless wooden elephant! Even brand-new beginners can follow these steps and get an elephant-like result.

12. Highly Detailed Feather by Macho10zst

Here, you can see the steps that this Highly Detailed Feather by macho10zst took on its way to completion. In the end, it’s a very detailed and ornate-looking feather that’s truly a work of art. But it started as a simple block of wood. You can also turn a wood block into an ornate feather if you follow this process.

13. Simple Brown Bear Pattern by The WoodCarver’s Cabin

This Simple Brown Bear Pattern by The Woodcarver’s Cabin looks like a teddy bear made from wood! It’s a great gift to give to kids or for Valentine’s day. Though it’s very cute in the end, it’s not a very difficult project to complete, and The Woodcarver’s Cabin has made it even easier with a fully printable pattern that will help you transform your wood block into a finished brown bear.

14. Duck Decoy Pattern by The Woodcarver’s Cabin

Here’s a pattern that may be handy for hunters. If you follow this Duck Decoy Pattern by The Woodcarver’s Cabin, you can carve a very realistic-looking duck that can act as a hunting decoy. If you want yours to look as realistic as the one in the picture you’ll need paint to give it that final life-like finish.

15. Easy-Carve Pooch from Pinterest

As an excellent project for beginners, this Easy-Carve Pooch from Pinterest has all the information you need to start carving and create a cute little wooden pooch. You’ll get a fully printable pattern that will help you turn a block of wood into a rough shape and carve it into a finished form that looks great. You can use this simple project to help refine your skills and advance to the next level of wood carving.

16. Cowboy Boot Carving by The Woodcarver’s Cabin

The Woodcarver’s Cabin has several awesome patterns to help you create cool new carvings, such as this Cowboy Boot. Though it has a lot of realistic detail packed into a small carving, it’s still beginner-friendly. Yours may not turn out quite as life-like as the one pictured, but after several attempts, you can create more realistic carvings and move on to bigger and more detailed projects.

17. Deepwoods Mouse by Deepwoods Ventures

This Deepwoods Mouse by Deepwoods Ventures is a great pattern to get you started on more realistic shapes and animals. It has a leather tail and teeth that are separately carved and attached. You can make the fur and face as detailed as your skill level allows, so you can easily take this project on with just a beginner’s knowledge of how to use carving tools.

18. Step by Step Wood Spirit by The Woodcarver’s Cabin

We’ve already covered several wood spirit patterns of varying degrees of difficulty. However, The Woodcarver’s Cabin helps you build a Wood Spirit Step by Step, so you can create this intricate and impressive wood spirit that will wow anyone you show. Since the instructions are so thorough, an intermediate woodcarver can tackle this project, even though it’s advanced-level work.

19. Carving A Rose by The Carving Shop

Learning to carve advanced three-dimensional shapes without hands-on instruction can be very difficult. But The Carving Shop makes Carving A Rose much easier with a detailed video that covers every step of the process so that you can follow along while carving a rose of your own.

It might take a few tries to make one that looks as good as the one pictured, but if you follow along with the video, even beginners with a little bit of experience can attempt to carve this incredible-looking rose.

20. Chip Carving Patterns by Read N Try

Chip carving takes very detailed work with steady hands since the carvings are so small. If you’d like to get started with chip carving, then the Chip Carving Patterns by Read N Try is a great place to start.

There are several designs to choose from with printable patterns that make it much easier to get started. Even if you’ve never tried this type of wood carving, you can quickly get started with these basic geometric patterns and try something new.

Conclusion

Regardless of your skill level, you can find a suitable and entertaining woodcarving project from our list. Although many of the plans require advanced skills, some of the intermediate-level projects can be completed by beginners. It will take an amateur more time to complete them, but it’s possible with a steady hand and plenty of patience. We hope our article inspires you to pull out your knife and carve a wood spirit, gnome, dog, cowboy boot, or adorable hedgehog. Happy crafting!

Featured Image Credit: Peggychoucair, Pixabay