Turtle Whittling Blank

Description

Here is a great whittling project. Use your whittling knife to carve a Turtle from our Sea Turtle blank.
You can add as much or as little detail as you like.
You can even paint your Turtle after you have carved it!
You’ll have a heap of fun whittling this character, and it is very relaxing doing so 🙂

The blank is normally of Basswood, English Lime or Paulownia wood – whichever we have in stock at the time. These woods are nice and soft, so easy to carve but strong enough to hold the detail.

Turtles are an integral part of the traditional culture of many coastal indigenous peoples throughout the world. Marine turtles migrate long distances between their feeding grounds and nesting sites. They have a large shell called a carapace, four strong, paddle-like flippers and like all reptiles, lungs for breathing air. The characteristic beak-like mouth is used to shear or crush food.

All marine turtle species are experiencing serious threats to their survival. The main threats are pollution and changes to important turtle habitats, especially coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangrove forests and nesting beaches. Other threats include accidental drowning in fishing gear, over-harvesting of turtles and eggs, and predation of eggs and hatchlings by foxes, feral pigs, dogs and goannas.

There are only a few large nesting populations of the green, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles left in the world. Australia has some of the largest marine turtle nesting areas in the Indo-Pacific region and has the only nesting populations of the flatback turtle. Of the seven species of marine turtles in the world, six occur in Australian waters:

• Flatback turtle (Natator depressus)
• Green turtle (Chelonia mydas)
• Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)
• Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
• Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta)
• Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea)