How to Carve Stone

Last Updated: March 3, 2023 References Approved

Carving stone is a type of sculpting. Stone is different from other mediums in that it's difficult to shape perfectly because of its density and unpredictability. Carving stone requires patience and planning. Use these steps as a stone-carving guide.

Part 1

Part 1 of 4:

Choosing the Right Stone

1
Choose soapstone if you are a beginner and have few tools for carving. Soapstone's texture resembles a dry bar of soap and is extremely malleable. It will easily form a shape with little force.^{[1]
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- Soapstone is so soft that you can carve it with harder rocks you find in your backyard; you can even use your fingernail to carve it.^{[2]
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  Research source} It also comes in many colors like grey, green, and black. Use soapstone if you are making a small sculpture that won't be easily damaged if you accidentally scratch or nudge it.
- You can find soapstone and other soft rocks at a local stone carving supplies stores. For example, in California there is a store called "Stone Sculptors Supplies" that sells soft stones for carving.^{[3]
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- Alternately, you can acquire your stones from a stone yard. Know, however, that these stones are typically used for construction purposes (building counter tops, for example) and may be harder than artistically provided stones.^{[4]
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- Know that some soapstone contains asbestos, which can cause lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma if inhaled.
2
Buy alabaster for the best combination of durability and malleability. Alabaster comes in a wide range of colors and is available from many suppliers.^{[5]
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- Alabaster is best if you want a colorful, sturdy sculpture. It can come in variety of colors like white, grey, beige, orange, yellows, reds, and translucent.
- Although alabaster is generally harder than soapstone, it still carves easily. It is the ideal choice for new sculptors since it will still retain its shape without requiring specialized tools or strenuous effort.
- An alternative to alabaster is limestone, which carves easily and regularly but is not available in a wide range of colors (typical limestone comes in different shades of grey). Also, limestone can be difficult to sculpt if you get the wrong piece. Limestone is slightly harder and doesn't polish as well as alabaster.
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3
Avoid very hard stones like granite and marble. Carving these stones requires specialized tools like electric grinders and hammers.
- Granite and marble are usually sculpted in large quantities since they are most optimal for statues and other large items that require durability.
- Working with large slabs of hard stones requires very strenuous effort. Even experienced carvers can spend up to 80 hours working on a relatively simple piece.^{[6]
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4
Pick a slab of stone that is much larger than your intended sculpture. Carving is a subtractive process, not an additive one. Unlike adding more paint to a portrait, carving involves taking away stone to create the piece's shape.
- Limit your stone size to something you will finish in a relatively short time. This is especially important if you are trying your hand at sculpting for the first time and are unsure of whether you will enjoy the process.
- The suggested size of stone blocks for sculpting is 15-25 lbs. Blocks that are smaller than 15 lbs will break if carved with a hammer and chisel. Any larger, and completing your sculpture will take much longer than you desire.
- If you intend on using soapstone to sculpt a heart-shaped pendant, then you can most likely work with a block well under 15 lbs. Just remember that you will most likely have to use other, less accurate tools like harder rocks or a file to shape it. You will also have fewer chances to correct any mistakes you accidentally make during the carving process.
5
Inspect your stone for cracks and fissures. Since you're working with natural materials, it won't be unusual to experience structural flaws. Finding a stone with few flaws will reduce the likelihood that your stone will break when carving.
- Cracks and fissures are sometimes easiest to see when the stone is wet. Use a spray bottle or sprinkle water over your stone. If you find any cracks, try to follow it to see where it ends. A crack that goes all the way around a stone is in danger of breaking during the carving process.^{[7]
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- Tap larger stone blocks with a hammer or the back of a chisel. If the block makes a "ringing" sound, there is a higher chance that your stone is solid in the area you are hitting it. If it gives off a dead "thud" and no ring, chances are there is a crack that is absorbing the energy of the tap.
- Ask an experienced carver or a store employee to help you find a sturdy stone to work with. If you are a beginner and do not have experience judging the integrity of a stone, acquire your stone from a stone carving supplier instead of a stone yard.

Part 2

Part 2 of 4:

Getting the Necessary Tools

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Wear respiratory protection while carving. Even if you are carving small quantities of stone, the stone itself may contain asbestos or silica. These are both harmful if inhaled.
- To help reduce the amount of dust, wet the rock first before carving. Also, work in an outdoor environment (in the yard or on a porch is optimal.^{[8]
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- If working with a larger block (25 lbs for instance), set up a fan to blow away the dust as you work.
Types of protection:^{[9]
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Dust mask: cheap, minimal protection against dust for small jobs.
Disposable respirator with N95+ filters: cheap, minimal protection against dust and silica.
Half-face or full-face respirator with N95+ filters: good protection against dust and silica. Only some are rated for asbestos.
2
Wear protective goggles over your eyes. If you wear a prescription pair of glasses, cover those with the goggles as well.
- Small stone chips can easily enter your eye when using a hammer and chisel. Though this isn't a potentially lethal risk like inhalation of stone dust, it can still be quite painful. It will also impair your vision, making sculpting very difficult to do accurately.
- If you're working with a small stone, you can wear protective glasses instead of goggles. Though you won't be able to wear these easily over a pair of prescription glasses, they won't fog up as much as goggles.
- Over time, safety goggles become scratched and can obscure your vision. Be prepared with spares to replace them in case significant scratches occur. You can purchase protective eyewear from most hardware stores.^{[10]
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Consider wearing gloves if you are carving a large piece. Stone can be abrasive and carving it can cause blisters, scrapes, splinters, or cuts.
- The more experienced you get and the more callouses you develop, the less likely you'll need gloves. Still, it is better to be more protected than less. A good pair of gloves may even prevent accidental cuts from tool usage.
- You don't need a fancy pair of gloves for smaller or medium-sized stones. Since you won't be working for long periods or with power tools, an everyday pair of gardening gloves may be sufficient.^{[11]
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4
Invest in a hammer, chisels, and files. Online retailers like Amazon sell starter carving kits for $30.00. Alternately, local art stores and home gardening companies offer multiple types of carving kits. Although you may not need all these tools for soapstone and other softer stones, they will make your carving quicker and more precise. Here's a quick guide to the tools you may need:

Soft hammer: A hammer with two wide, flat faces for striking chisels. Start with a 1.5 – 2 lb hammer if you have an average build.^{[12]
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Chisels: The flat chisel is the most essential tool, with a simple, two-sided tip. Toothed chisels, which have multiple prongs, are optional but will aid in fine shaping and carving.
Files: Used for achieving the final shape. Choose a file suited to the size of your carving.
5
Purchase a sandbag from your local hardware store if you are sculpting a big stone. You will need to rest your sculpted piece on this sandbag as you work on it.
- Fill the sandbag with the large, inexpensive cat litter instead of sand. Sand is too heavy and settles too well to provide the necessary support for your stone.^{[13]
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- Be sure you purchase the larger, cheaper kitty litter. The more expensive kind tends to clump together like sand. The cheaper kitty litter is more lightweight and will allow you to support your stone in many positions.
- Tie the sandbags closed with twine, leaving plenty of empty space in the bag. You need that space for resting your stone comfortably.

Part 3

Part 3 of 4:

Carving Your Stone

1
Draw your design on a piece of paper. It is best to visualize your piece beforehand because sculpting requires abstract and spatial thinking. Although your drawing will be 2D, it will help you better visualize how your 3D item will need to be sculpted.
- Alternately, you can work with clay to create a "rough draft" of your sculpted piece. This way, you can add and remove clay until your desired shape is achieved. This will not only help better develop your idea, it will prevent you from removing stone that you wish you had kept.
- For beginning sculptors, it is recommended that you begin with an abstract shape. Avoid making detailed pieces like human statues. Learning how to use various tools while also trying to make things symmetrical and precise can be frustrating and overwhelming
2
Look at the stone to determine the direction of the bed or grain. Similar to wood, the grain or bed is the direction in which the rock was formed.
- Wet the stone to better see the bed lines, which often appear as distinctive color patterns. Carving along these lines will ensure better structural integrity.
- Try to keep the grain running with the length of the design. Try to avoid breaking the stone perpendicularly to the bed line, as it will most likely be more difficult to break and will break unpredictably.
3
Use a crayon to draw your design on the actual rock. This will be the blueprint for carving your stone.
- Though you can also use a pencil or marker, chances are the graphite from the pencil will vanish almost instantly. The ink from the pen or marker can sink into the stone and stain it permanently. Using crayons allows you to wash off the drawing as necessary and also provides a wide variety of colors to use as alternative shapes your sculpture might take.
- Be sure you mark your design on all sides of the stone. Maintain the height and width of the form on each side. Remember, your piece will be 3-dimensional and will need to be evenly carved.
4
Hold the hammer in your dominant hand and the chisel in the other. For example, if you are right handed, you will hold the hammer in your right hand.
- Grasp the chisel at its midpoint, similar to how you would hold a microphone. Move your thumb to the side of the chisel where your other fingers are situated. This grip will feel weird at first, but it will keep you from striking your thumb with the hammer by accident.
- Hold your chisel firmly and keep it touching the stone at all times. Allowing your chisel to bounce and jiggle in your hands while you strike it will result in inaccurate, unpredictable breaks in the stone.
- If carving along an edge, use a flat chisel instead of a toothed one. Having only some of your teeth on the rock while striking it can cause the teeth to break off, making your chisel useless and creating a potential hazard.
- Angle your chisel at about 45 degrees or lower. Striking the stone head-on will create what is called a "stone bruise." This causes the stone to turn white and reflect more light, creating a blemish in your final piece.^{[14]
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Strike the end of your chisel with the hammer. If your angle is right, chips of stone will come off.
- If your chisel simply becomes embedded into the stone and does not produce stone chips, your angle is most likely too steep. Change your position to a shallower angle and consider carving from a different direction. Striking at steep angles can cause a stone bruise.
- Carving at too shallow an angle will cause your chisel to skip off the stone, removing nothing. This is more common on harder and smoother stones. To fix this, strike at a deeper angle or use the toothed chisel.
6
Place your stone on the sandbag if it is unsteady. For smaller stones, keeping the stone in a secure location while carving can be very difficult and will make you more exhausted trying to keep it steady manually.
- If the stone is moving - even if it is rocking just a bit - you're still losing energy from your movements, which could be removing more stone. Fix this by placing the stone directly on top of the sandbag.
- Carve standing up rather than sitting down. This will help you angle your chisel down towards the floor, which will maximize each hammer blow and reduce stone movement. It is common to have to readjust the stone's position on the sandbag every few minutes.
- If you still find your stone moving, lean against it with your body while pushing it against you. Be sure the part you are carving is facing away from you.
- If carving on a folding table, place your sandbag and stone over the legs at one end. The table is strongest there, and more of your energy will go into removing the stone instead of making the table flex.^{[15]
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Carve towards the center of the stone, not towards the edges. Since the stone becomes less thick and less supported towards the edges, it can break in uncontrolled ways.
- Carving towards the edges can cause you to lose stone that you want to keep. To avoid this, carve with your chisel facing toward the center. Or, you could work along the corner/edge rather than across it.
- If there is absolutely no way to avoid carving over an edge, use slow, gentle hammer blows. Although you can use special glue to repair lost stone, the glue lines themselves will be evident in your final product.
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Chisel along cracks, not across them. Remember that even the most optimal stone slab may still have minor cracks along the surface. Reduce the amount of lost stone by working with the cracks, not against them.
- Use chisels along the direction of the cracks instead of at a right angle. Any crack, regardless of size, is a place where one side of the stone is not strongly bonded to the other. Carving near it will chip off tiny flakes on either side, making it more difficult to file. This is a significant concern when working with softer stones.
- To avoid flaking, use files when your stone is approaching its final form. Chisel use puts more stress on the stone than files do and will make the crack more visible. Filing along the crack will help smooth it out and disguise it better.^{[16]
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Part 4

Part 4 of 4:

Finishing Up

1
File your stone moving away from you only. Filing is best for creating fine detail, smoothing out chisel marks, and refining the final shape of your piece.
- Most stone carving files have uni-directional teeth, meaning that they only cut in one direction. The proper way to use this file is to push it away from you rather than grinding it back and forth via the traditional method.
- Grinding the file back and forth may be effective, but it will also wear down your files quickly. Instead, push the file away from you and then lift it up. Return the file to its original position and push again. An added benefit of filing this way is that it gets the file out of view after each stroke, letting you see the surface more as you work.
Types of files:
Straight steel files: basic, cheap option suitable for soft stone.
Riffler files: files in various specialized shapes for detail work. Italian rifflers tend to be the highest quality.
Structured carbide or diamond files: Available in all file shapes, these expensive materials are necessary for hard stone.
2
Glue large pieces of lost stone back to the sculpture with epoxy. Epoxy is a special glue that typically comes in two components that you have to mix before applying.
- Gluing stones back together is typically reserved for when you are working with larger stone slabs and losing a significant piece means compromising your entire design (for example, if you lost the "arm" portion of your statue sculpture).
- For smaller sculptures and carvings, you simply need to rethink your sculpture. Instead of carving a heart, maybe now you will decide to carve an arrow.
3
Sand your final product with 220 grit paper. Removing chisel marks and scratches will make your stone look more refined and professional.
- The amount of grit refers to how many grains of grit there are per square inch. The higher the grit, the finer the sanded product will be. For sanding the softer stones suggested above, avoid sandpaper with grit 80 and below. These are coarser grits and may damage your final product.
- It is recommended that you sand the stone while it is wet. Use the wet/dry brand of sandpaper, since standard sandpaper will fall apart when it gets wet.^{[17]
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- Sanding dry is helpful because it allows you to see cracks and marks as you work, but it will definitely require the use of a respirator. To avoid spending more as well as creating harmful dust, wait for your stone to dry after each sanding session. Remember the areas where you spot any blemishes, and then re-wet the stone and continue sanding. This technique will require patience but will save you money and ensure your safety.

Community Q&A

Question

Can sandstone be carved?

Community Answer

Yes, some kinds can such as Wonderstone, from Utah, USA. It is very decorative with brown bands or patterns and is frequently carved into wonderful abstract forms. It is gritty and makes a mess but it is not hard.
Question

What is the most preferable material for carving?

Community Answer

Soapstone (about 15 to 25 pounds), alabaster, or limestone. Alabaster is generally harder than soapstone, but it still carves easily. It is the ideal choice for new sculptors since it will still retain its shape without requiring specialized tools or strenuous effort.
Question

Is it possible to carve diamond?

Cole Adair

Community Answer

Diamond can be cut with a stronger diamond. The diamond is the strongest stone in the world. Start with soapstone if you are a beginner.

Warnings

Do not carve stone without wearing goggles, a dust mask, leather gloves and earplugs.

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Be aware of the direction of the stone's grain. If you chisel against it, it will break off haphazardly.

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Do not attempt to lift heavy stones without the aid of another person or a machine.

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