The Green Wood Carver: A Practical Guide to Carving, Whittling, and Life

With this beautiful and unique book, discover the meditative art of whittling, an immersive and peaceful craft that rewards calm focus.

Samuel Alexander quickly built a strong following sharing his own compelling story about the healing power of carving. Now, in his first book, he introduces this calm and gentle craft.

With Samuel’s thoughtful reflections on the joy of small movements and personal creativity woven beautifully throughout this how-to guide, his aim is not only to teach you how to create a beautiful object but to find the beauty in the process itself.

Teaching beginners how to responsibly source fresh green wood, master the basic techniques for using a knife and sharing a range of step-by-step projects to work through at your own pace, The Green-Wood Carver is an important reminder of the therapeutic benefits of exploring a new craft.

After learning the basics of how to get started, you can work through projects as varied as spoons, vases, simple buttons, household hooks and even a toy car. Working with the grain, you’ll create tactile curves and textures, slowly revealing the character of each piece as you whittle.

Samuel Alexander first started whittling as a way to help him recover from depression, discovering that it not only lifted his mood but also yielded beautiful keepsakes like spoons, bowls, and ornaments. Soon he was selling what he made, and became one of Toast’s New Makers of 2022. He has since started teaching whittling and green woodcarving at workshops in East London, and his compelling, calming Instagram videos have attracted more than 47,000 followers. Now based in the Czech Republic, this is his first book on the subject. IG: @samuelalexandershapes