1. Stop Cut Carving:
The stop cut is a very simple but extremely useful technique in any relief carving. Along any definable area where one section of the design intersects with another area or the background, the stop cut will help you to establish the different layers of work. Begin by drawing your tool along any line. Make several strokes until you have reached your estimated depth of this area. Now the background can be carved away by pushing your tool into the stop cut. At this point the wood will flake away instead of splintering. A stop cut can be recut many times, slowly developing the depth of the intersect. With careful work this technique will create crisp division lines between the different areas of your carving.

2. Low Relief Carving:
In this technique the edges of one carved area slants down to the next intersecting level. The joint between the two areas can easily be seen. Low Relief is a carving that is done in definable layers and the entire carved surface has a shallow look to it. Low Relief is not necessarily carving that is done to a very small depth into the wood surface, it refers to the visual impression that the carving creates. By using the Low Relief technique, your pattern is anchored to the wood background by the visible intersections, this emphasizes the impression that the design has been cut into the carving block.

3. High Relief Carving:
High Relief carving creates a more dramatic depth effect than does Low Relief. The basic creation of the carved design is the same as with Low Relief except for the use of the Undercut Stroke. More realistic and detailed work often is created with High Relief. Dragons literally jump out of the wood surface towards you and floral petals reach above the background to turn and curl in free air. The undercut is used to hide the intersection of individual areas of work. The undercut reaches underneath the adjoining area of work and makes a trough between the two sections. An impression of depth is therefore made because to the eye one area floats above another and because the high area can now cast a shadow on the surface below.

4. Smoothing a Finished Piece:
Sand the piece gently with sandpaper or small pebbles, gradually using finer and finer materials until the object is shiny and smooth. This will not only bring out the grain of the wood being used, it will make the piece more attractive and desirable, and thus, more valuable.