Raised carving on American black walnut?

[Hemo]

I'm moving along on my latest project, a 16 gauge flint fowler stocked in American black walnut. Everything is pretty completely inlet and shaped, ready to start on some detail carving. I'm intending to do some raised carving around the tang and also some raised border carving around the entry pipe and trigger guard (ala Grinslade's book, specifically looking at British style American fowlers such as BS5 and BS6 in his book).  The piece of wood I'm working with has pretty open grain and appears prone to splitting. I'm concerned about being able to do as detailed a level of carving as I could do on a piece of hard maple. Other than using "scary sharp" tools, does anyone have any techniques they use to hold open grained walnut together for carving? Specifically I'm wondering if anyone uses a sealer or filler to close the grain before carving?

Gregg

[t.caster]

Sorry, but "scary sharp" tools should be used all the time, anyway. You should be able to cut in basic sculpted outlines and then relieve the backround OK. Do your detail work slowly, always working with the grain direction not against it or across it.

[jerrywh]

 The time to think about the carving is when your picking out the wood.  Open grained black walnut doesn't carve well but a fair job can be done with lots of care and good sharp tools try and pick a design that is not too complex.

[smylee grouch]

Hemo, If you were to carve after you filled the grain and put finish  on the stock, I'm wondering how you would treat the area carved away? You would have bare wood there, would you scrape,sand or what to finish that area before you put a finish on the newly exposed wood?

[Jim Kibler]

No secrets here.  Just sharp tools and care.  It won't carve as easily as denser wood, but it can be done with patience.

Jim

[Clowdis]

Carving can be similar to checkering in that it may go better if a deep penetrating sealer is applied before starting. It can help hold the wood fibers together. But still, sharp tools are irreplaceable. I haven't found walnut that hard to deal with if you use good, sharp tools.

[Captchee]

 like the others have said , sharp tools . when using BW be picky when chosing a blank . not all BW is open grain . that coming from older trees in dry climates is often  very tight , rock hard and carves wonderfuly

[Hemo]

Thanks for your replies, all. I certainly have no issue with using super sharp tools, always. Clowdis, that was what I was wondering, if a penetrating sealer could help keep the fibers from coming apart, although I agree it would make any subsequent staining difficult. I'll post pics when I'm done.

Gregg

[Clark Badgett]

Black walnut doesn't really need staining. It gets pretty dark with an oil finish. Unless you want it really, really dark. I think I'll files the sealant idea for the next time I build with walnut. Might make inletting a bit less touchy.

[Long John]

Clowdis read my mind! 

When I have to carve black walnut I try to put a real thin penetrating sealer on the wood before doing the carving.  It fills in some of the open gran and make the wood far less prone to splitting out.  Since the walnut is not destined to be stained the sealer I put on before carving doesn't interfere with the sealer I put on after the carving and before filling in preparation for the final finish.   This by no means minimizes the need for shaving-sharp, well polished cutting edges on carving tools!  But adding a sealer will give you a slightly more dense and forgiving wood surface to work.  After the carving is done the whole stock must be re-sealed with the same sealer, thinned down to the same extent.

Good Luck!

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[Joe S]

Dampening the wood with 50:50 alcohol and water mix helps a lot when you're trying to carve wood that is chippy or tends to split.  Just a light mist from a spray bottle is adequate.