Visualizing carving

[Albert D]

Please feel free to laugh and poke fun. This is literally my first time putting chisels to wood and I have done no smoothing.

I'm not sure I'm getting the shapes right and taking off wood in the right places. This is strictly learning to use the tools on a chunk of scrap wood before I finalize my design and try it on the practice stock. I know it's a flat piece of wood but I'm still learning how the tools cut and learning to see the grain.

I don't enough gouges to cover all the curves for stabbing in. I'll try outlining with a V tool next time.

[Goo]

Looks very deep the people that showed me made their cuts about 1/32" deep try following the line instead of coming at it perpendicular. DO NOT throw that one away save it so you have something to know where you started later on.   Burt Monroe saved every blown up piston and crankcase from his attempts to modify his 1929 indian scout until he finally won the land speed record at Bonneville in the mid 70`s.     

[PhDBrewer]

I am starting on the same journey... learning to carve. It was suggested by excellent carvers to profile you wood with a belt sander to mimic the curve of the stock.  When working on a curve, the chisel barely cuts into the wood at the low end and gets deeper following the curve. Think of a setting sun half-circle, as the chisel travels from the bottom, cutting to the top, it automatically gets deeper. It is really different carving on a curve. It actually is much easier for me.
Good job so far! Everyone tells me it just takes practice...
Please continue to post your progress. U am sure others here with experience will chime in.

William

[TDM]

Albert, speaking for myself, I’ve spent the better part of this year trying to learn the proper relief carving technique. I bought books, a video, photo collections, a Kibler practice stock, plus 2 other old stocks. I’ve posted most of my attempts here. I’ve had a extra fancy Maple Woodsrunner sitting on my bench for months trying to get my courage up. Even finished one of Jim’s CNC carved Cherry Woodsrunners in the interim. I’m working on the Maple now and I limited myself to only making a few lines in the stock. For me, I decided that I’d rather regret not carving such a fine piece of than to regret having carved it improperly. If I was younger and had steadier hands the decision would of probably been different. But I encourage you to keep at it and study original work, it did help me get a little better. I’ll continue to practice carve in the future and maybe I’ll eventually get it right. Hope you do too.

[Scota4570]

And the others in the series. 

There are tips here, like remove the background with a flat or flat skew chisel, not a gouge.  Making chips is a great start.  You will save a lot of time and frustrations by sticking with a proven technique and tools.  The Kibler carving kit is worth the money.  It gives a all the information you need to get started.  Absolutely do copy other's work at first. 

The design you are trying to do is in the carving kit.  Use carbon paper to transfer the design.  I use MS paint to edit and resize carving patterns.   I then use drafting templates, ovals of various degrees and French curves to make the line smooth on the stock.  Get some 1x6 maple from the home center to practice on. 

As for tools, make them yourself.  I made a set of gouges of various radius from 2 1/2" down to 1/8" in steps.  I used spring stock from a Victrola motor.  I bent the spring steel around round stock and sockets. I heat threated after.  The handles are golf balls. 

I do not use a V-tool for cutting radiuses.  IT comes out uneven for me.  In fact I usually regret using a V-tool after. 

You need a way to sharpen tools.  They must be razor sharp. 

[c deperro]

To stab in a scroll all you need is a couple stabbing chisels . You can make them yourself . Either from tool steel or old hack saw blades. Grind one down to a 1/16 or so wide and the other to an1/8th   or so wide. Sharpen the tips and your good to go . Just stab in along your line and relieve the background with your chisel .

[kutter]

I've always used a small V palm chisel to cut all the lines (Veiner?).
Tipped way over to one side or the other and not cutting too awful deeply it leaves a nice clean, squared shoulder for the line in the wood. The other side of the chisel peels the wood away where the background will be taken out.

Small flat chisels, skew and carving knife for the background and finish up with scrapers.
Actually scrapers probably get used more than anything.
Rarely use gouges for removing background . They just leave me with more work than they are worth.

Stabbing in a pattern just doesn't feel comfortable for me to do.

[elkhorne]

Jim,
You are always coming up with something unusual to do a common task. The homemade chisels with the golf ball handles are absolutely ingenious. I hear alot of people badmouthing palm chisels but I’ve had very good luck with a nice Weber set I inherited from my grandmother. I might just try making a few out of some W-1 flat stock I have or O-1 if I have it then use your golf ball handle idea. How long are the shanks on your chisels? I assume you drilled 1/2-3/4” into the golf ball to secure. Neat concept to try! Thanks for the enlightenment.
elkhorne

[Scota4570]

Hi, I am Scot actually. 

The rolled part of the gouge tangs go about 3/4" into the balls.  Golf balls also make good file handles.  BTW, this is the best use for golf balls, says the frustrated golfer. 

I tend to think outside the box for sure.  When stabbing in scrolls I grab a gouge that matches the curve and work my way along.  When I can no longer make the curve I grab the next smaller one and so on.  The cutting end or the gouges are lens shaped.  They makes really crisp stabbed in lines.  Be aware they you must stab in accurately, if you move the line the old stab may show forever. 

Disclaimer, I am no expert carver.  I "cheat" any way I can.  I can not draw, but I can draw or paint a fair likeness of whatever  I want by using projectors, copiers, carbon paper, drafting templates and my computer to transfer the image.  I then do something that is like paint by numbers.  Since my artistic talent for carving is also low, I do similar things.  In the end nobody cares how you made the thing. 

I admire artists who can do a beautiful portrait with a sharpie marker and their eyeball.    My Dad could do that.  My mother did as I do.  She had a local reputation as decent  fine artist.  Go figure..

[elkhorne]

Scot,
I apologize for the mistaken identity! I had seen the stuff above your toolbox from Jim and just assumed it was he that posted the toolbox.
I really like your idea of making several gouges of various curvatures and lens shaping them. I recall Gary Brumfield had his very small lens shaped chisel and could walk it around most curves. Making your own tools can allow you to do things the high dollar ones can’t. I took a carving class t Conner Prairie with John Schipper’s several years ago and we made our chisels/gouges out of a small screwdriver set from Walmart and Lowe’s. We knocked the whirly tops off them and then sharpened them. That very small set of homemade chisels allowed us to stab in a fairly complex design on our practice wood. To remove background, we again took an inexpensive set of Lowe’s needle files. We sharpened them, heated some and bent them into scrapers for removing background. We did the same with old steel hacksaw blades and hardwood handles for wire inlay. Lesson learned is what you have found out, you can make almost any tool you need for a specific purpose because many times that tool is not made commercially.
I am not an artist either but then many of the old craftsmen were not either! They were making tools to keep our colonial forefathers alive and their family fed.

[PhDBrewer]

Nice tips on making the proper tools Elkhorne!

[Jerry V Lape]

I really cheated learning to carve - I took a three day seminar with Jim Kibbler and Ian Pratt as instructors.  Highly recommend taking a class with anyone of the better carvers.  That seminar was well worth the money. 
Basically they taught the stab in method.  If you only have a few gouge shapes in between areas can be cut in with a carving knife.  Kibbler used a small fixed blade sheath knife for it.  I have used a small old folder - but have acquired a pretty extensive set of gouges over time.  Biggest lesson is to learn to determine the how the grain runs and I never try to cut up the grain; down grain is best but across grain if necessary.  Most of the background is removed with a #2 or #3 gouge and scrapers.  A 45 degree chisel is very useful in tight spots.  Take care with placing the gouges for stabbing so a continuous line is made.  Careless placement will result in extra work to give  a clean edge to the carvings.  I never cut a new pattern on a rifle until I have satisfactorily produced it on a practice piece.  Make the practice piece on wood shaped like the stock. 

[TDM]

I really cheated learning to carve - I took a three day seminar with Jim Kibbler and Ian Pratt as instructors.  Highly recommend taking a class with anyone of the better carvers.  That seminar was well worth the money. 
Basically they taught the stab in method.  If you only have a few gouge shapes in between areas can be cut in with a carving knife.  Kibbler used a small fixed blade sheath knife for it.  I have used a small old folder - but have acquired a pretty extensive set of gouges over time.  Biggest lesson is to learn to determine the how the grain runs and I never try to cut up the grain; down grain is best but across grain if necessary.  Most of the background is removed with a #2 or #3 gouge and scrapers.  A 45 degree chisel is very useful in tight spots.  Take care with placing the gouges for stabbing so a continuous line is made.  Careless placement will result in extra work to give  a clean edge to the carvings.  I never cut a new pattern on a rifle until I have satisfactorily produced it on a practice piece.  Make the practice piece on wood shaped like the stock.

Excellent advice for all aspiring carvers Jerry.