Gather your supplies and tools. Choose a variety of carving tools and experiment with each to get the feel for what you like. Mallets, chisels, stone rasps and files each have a distinct purpose in stone carving. Sculpture House sells a variety of stone carving tools as well as stone carving sets and soapstone itself.
Develop a general idea for what you want your finished carving to look like. Look at the shape of your rock and decide on the basic form and direction of your piece. Mark the areas you want to remove and plan what to remove first. Use a pencil to draw the shape you desire on the soapstone.
Use a heavy chisel to "rough out the stone". Carve out the negative spaces of soapstone to begin revealing your figure. Work to create the general shape of your sculpture and leave the details for later.
Use the rasps, files and lighter carving tools to continue removing portions of rock. Focus on the details more and begin to remove undesired rough edges. Start by using your largest, roughest rasp and move toward using more delicate files. Add details to your piece using any tool you see fit.
Sand your piece to remove all traces of the files and add additional smoothness. Start with 100 grit sandpaper and move to higher numbers until your sculpture becomes as smooth as you desire.
Polish your soapstone sculpture by applying a light coat of linseed oil and buffing with a cloth after the oil has dried. Or, heat your stone in the oven at 250 degrees and rub solid beeswax over the sculpture. The wax adds a layer of protection to your carving. Let the heat of the stone melt the wax. After the wax has dried, use a cloth to buff it off. Polish the stone with a soft cloth sprayed with wood furniture cleaning spray to achieve a high shine.