2. Choose your wood. There are a lot of different types of wood providing a wide variety of color and grain textures. Some basic woods can be found at your local hardware store, while more exotic woods can be found at hobby shops, specialty wood stores and on the internet. Some woods are better suited for some projects than others. For your first carving, it is best to use a soft wood like pine, bass or soft maple (available at most hardware stores). If you can easily mark the wood with your fingernail, it is probably soft.