Working Dog
Belgian Malinois
Full alert stance, ears set forward, athletic topline. A study in tension held in still wood.
K9 Krafted · Miniature wood carvingCarve your creations.
Carve your creations.
From a single block.
Found us from the carving videos? This is where you learn to make your own. The tools, the step-by-step tutorials, and the exact basswood supplies behind every dog, wild animal, and muscle car we carve.
Wood & method
One block, one subject, one clear method
Everything here is built around figure carving at a small scale, where a single slip of the knife is the difference between a pointer and firewood.
Raw basswood, mid-process — an English Pointer on point, before any finish or paint.
Miniature carving looks intimidating from the outside and it is genuinely approachable once you have the right knife, a block of clean basswood, and a plan for the cuts. That gap between looking hard and being learnable is the whole reason this site exists.
We work in basswood for a reason — tight, even grain and almost no color streaking, so it takes fine detail without splitting. Every piece starts as a rough block like the one above and moves through three deliberate passes before it ever sees finish or paint.
The three passes
- 1
Rough out
Remove the waste and find the subject's basic mass and stance.
- 2
Shape
Round the planes — chest, haunch, muzzle — until the form reads from across the room.
- 3
Detail
Fur, eyes, and the small cuts that turn a shape into a specific creature.
Dogs, wildlife & cars
From the bench
Nine finished pieces that show the range of the craft, from working dogs to a snow leopard to a 1969 Charger.
Working Dog
German Shepherd
The sloping topline and carved saddle coat catch the light in warm, flowing lines.
Working Dog
Rottweiler
Raw mass and substance that read instantly, even at the scale of your palm.
Working Dog
Cane Corso
Finished in matte black so the carved muscle reads through the surface, not around it.
Wildlife
Snow Leopard & Cub
Mother at rest, cub against her chest, that heavy tail curling beside them both.
Wildlife
Koala & Joey
A joey riding its mother's back, both crowned with those enormous round ears.
Collector Car
1969 Dodge Charger R/T
Gloss black, red R/T stripe, Rallye wheels. Proof the method carries past animals.
Collector Car
1977 Pontiac Trans Am
The gold Screaming Chicken hood decal and snowflake wheels, all shaped from basswood.
The Full Set
The Collection
Five finished pieces in a row. The clearest picture of what the craft builds toward.
Start here
The four tools worth owning first
You can carve every piece on this page with this short list. When you are ready for the full kit, the resources page has the rest.
01
A Beginner Carving Knife
A short, fixed-blade detail knife with a comfortable handle does ninety percent of the work on a miniature. Start here before buying anything else.
02
A Small Gouge Set
Two or three palm gouges in shallow sweeps let you hollow the chest of a dog or round the flank of a leopard cleanly.
03
Basswood Carving Blocks
Tight, even grain and almost no color streaking. Basswood is the standard for animal figures because it takes fine detail without splitting.
04
A Cut-Resistant Glove
The single cheapest way to keep carving enjoyable. Wear it on the hand holding the wood and you will carve longer and worry less.
Buttons above lead to our resources page. Product links there are Amazon affiliate links.
Pick a block. Make the first cut.
Start with the step-by-step miniature dog tutorial, then come back for the supplies once you know what your hands actually want.