Introduction: Carved Viking Chess Piece

Here I will show you how to make a simple small carved figure. My inspiration is the chess pieces found at Lewis island.

Step 1: Tools Needed

You only need a saw and a knife to make this pieces.
A small whittling knife or a chip knife is the best suited for the carving. But any small sharp knife will do the job. And a bigger knife is needed to split the wood into the 4 pieces needed.

I use my hand forged knifes and a pull saw.

If you don't have a suitable knife already I recoment you buy a pfeil or a flexcut I have used both brands and they a both very good. And they are available many places online.

Step 2: Preparing and Splitting the Wood

Cut a length of green wood. I use a branch of hassle I have just cut down a few days ago. When you use green wood the carving is much easier because the wood is softer.

You can use any kind of green wood. I can recommend alder, hassle and willow for beginners. They are easy to come by, they are soft and grow straight, and therefore are easy to carve.
For the more skilled and experienced you can go for the harder kinds of wood like black cherry, apple, mayflower or maple. Or yew if you can get your hands on some.

Yew and alder are even soft and easily carved after they dry and the wood have cured.

Step 3: The Rough Cuts

I start to shape the face and beard of the viking. I keep the cuts coarse at this stage.

Step 4: The Fine Cuts

In the last steps I smoothed out the square impression and ad details like eyes and mouth.

Step 5: More Inspiration

Here are some other carvings I have made using similar technique.

I hope you enjoyed this instructable. Feel free to write me with comments and questions.

/Thomas