Take a deep breath. Grasp the knife firmly in one hand and then use the thumb of your other hand to guide the blade across the basswood block. Try not to cut too deep. The blade cuts easily through the soft wood and the small chips skim off the wood and drop to the floor.

After a while, as the chips collect around your boots, the rough block of wood begins to take on the shape of a miniature harlequin duck and you will have entered the world of carving.

There is much tradition in that world, including the type of wood that’s used, the tools and even what you carve. Some newcomers to the craft will learn of those traditions through a course offered by Steven Valleau, the master carver at the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor.

Others can get a taste of the tradition this weekend from Joe Dana, a member of the Penobscot Nation and a woodcarver who will demonstrate how he carves root clubs and walking sticks using traditional methods and tools.

Although their finished products differ greatly, carving root clubs and bird carving have some similarities, including the fact that much of the work takes place before the knife ever touches the wood.

“The fun part is making chips,” Valleau says in an interview at his workshop at the Gilley Museum. “But there’s a lot of it that’s not making chips.”

For Valleau, the initial work entails much study and drawing, a process essential to creating the design that will be transferred to wood. Each project starts with a drawing based on photographs and observations. As he carves, he keeps photos nearby, and on occasion he will go to the Gilley collection for a carving or a stuffed bird to refer to.

But for his classes, all that design work is done and students, particularly beginning carvers, will carve from the master woodcarver’s designs. The birds vary from class to class, but students start with a basswood “blank” that Valleau has roughed out with a band saw.

“Basswood is the traditional carving wood,” he says. “That’s what Wendell Gilley used in most of his carvings.”

Although there are a variety of knives and chisels in the workshop, most of the carving is done with one knife.

“You don’t need a particular tool for every mark you make on the wood,” Valleau says. “For the most part, the wood is going to be carved and sanded and then painted. You use the knife that’s comfortable rather than for the mark it makes on the wood.”

Carving is a “detail intensive” craft and it’s that aspect that attracts many of the students who join the various carving classes offered at the museum. Participants often have some experience in other activities that require the same attention to detail, including clock makers and fly-tiers.

But first-time carvers don’t need to have any particular skills or experience before starting a class.

Over the years, Valleau has noticed certain common difficulties that new carvers encounter. Some tend to make their cuts too deep and take off too much wood, especially around the neck or the beak. Others don’t take off enough.

“‘They get caught up in taking off chips and forget about shape,” he says. “They tend to leave it blocky; they don’t get it shaped the way it should be. But that comes with experience.”

Bird carving also involves other disciplines: metal work for fashioning the legs and feet, and painting.

“Painting frustrates everybody,” Valleau says.

But the class has been enjoyable for first-time carver Paul Gorman of Southwest Harbor.

“So far I’m enthusiastic,” he says. “The tools are easier to use than I thought they would be. But I’ve learned that having the right tool is important. It’s easier than I thought and I’d encourage more people to try it.”

The classes are a chance to meet with other people and work on a craft.

“It’s a great way to learn about birds in greater depth,” Valleau says. “The people enjoy each other and enjoy being in the class. I think sometimes that I get more out of it than they do. I get to meet a lot of different kinds of people and I see the craft in different ways.”

For Joe Dana, the carving process is a more solitary endeavor that begins in the forest. There, he searches for the right birch tree that will provide the proper head for the club. Gray and white birch are the traditional woods used for root clubs because they have a large burl at the base of the root system.

“We look for a nice straight tree and then dig around the base of the tree to expose the roots,” he explains. He looks for a nice, round burl, and when he finds it, he exposes the roots and cuts the tree about 4 feet up from the burl. The longer length makes it easier to carve.

He then cuts the roots off evenly, and after a thorough cleaning, drying and sanding, he is ready to begin carving.

Unlike the bird carver, Dana said he does not work from a drawing or a particular design.

“The root determines what the design will be,” he says. “Working with root, it tells you something, it speaks to you. With the knowledge you have and what you have done before, you can see what the root is best suited for. No two roots are the same, so each root club will be unique.”

Dana practices a traditional method of carving known as chip carving, which involves removing pieces of wood with a knife rather than just making impressions in the wood. Although he has special tools for intricate detail work, Dana does most of his work with one knife used for both the carving on the burl and the design on the handle.

The earliest known root clubs dating back to the 1600s were used as war clubs. Many of those had very little carving done on them. The carver simply highlighted suggested images in the root. Others contained images that were neither animal nor human, but were spirit faces representing the spirit of the wood.

As the clubs evolved from war clubs to ceremonial clubs, their designs became more elaborate and the images on the burls changed. The faces became more human, and as tourists became interested in the clubs they began to include Western headdresses to conform to the tourists’ idea of an Indian.

For years, the clubs were used in ceremonies, rituals and dances. There was even a “war club dance” which is no longer performed, and few tribes now use root clubs in any ceremonies. The clubs that Dana and his father Stan Neptune carve now are primarily artworks that are usually purchased by collectors.

Dana’s root club carvings are part of the Abbe Museum’s permanent collection and are exhibited in its permanent exhibition, “Wabanaki: People of the Dawn.” He will demonstrate his craft at the Abbe, including how to carve walking sticks, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30. The demonstration is free with admission to the museum. For information, call 288-3519.

At the Gilley Museum, carving classes are offered throughout the year except in January and vary in length and in cost. The class fee includes all materials and tools. The last class of the year is the current 10-week class on carving the harlequin duck. An open house and show displaying the students’ carvings will be held on Dec. 15 at the museum. For information, call 244-7555.