cleaning up incised craving

[yip]

  is there a secret in cleaning up incised carving? cleaning the cuts is my main problem

[Mike Brooks]

Incised carving doesn't take any clean up.

[yip]

  i guess i screwed up.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

YIP:  if you've got torn wood in your carving, you could go over it again with razor sharp tools, watching closely the flow of the grain.  But your tools must be shaving sharp with polished edges in order to cut the wood smoothly without tearing or ploughing.  If your knives and chisels had been this sharp to start with, Mike is correct.  The initial cut is the only one usually required.

[DavidC]

Wood hard enough? I made the mistake of trying to carve more than I should have on wood that was too soft, cherry stock, and it required clean-up that Mike's answer suggested it shouldn't have. I assumed it was due to skill level but it's either a dull tool or soft wood because almost no carving video I've found shows much clean up after the initial cuts.

[smart dog]

Hi Yip,
You can clean up incised carving but as Mike wrote, the sharp "V" chisel should not require it.  However, I find that I have to go back to add highlights and details.  For example, often I want part of a scroll to widen for accent.  I can accomplish that mostly by laying the "V" chisel more on its side as I go around that part of the curve.  Yet, many times that is not enough and I want a wider stroke so I go back and cut the curve wider.  To do that I often use a gouge which fits the curve and stab it in at an angle.  That is a way to clean up at least some of your incised carving. So you can do at least two things both require you to make sure your tools are razor sharp.  You can go over your already cut lines with a properly sharpened chisel or you can stab in accents with sharp gouges.   

dave 

[J. Talbert]

Granted it’s not the most efficient method but for much greater control, I stab in most of my incised carving. This method helps me follow my drawing more closely and avoid elbows and flat spots in the design.  It also lets me widen certain areas for highlights as Dave described previously.

Jeff

[Jim Filipski]

Incised carving was a Bain of mine! I have always rather Do raise relief carving; Tom Curran "Acer Saccharum" here.... Thought me to Incise carve like i would Engrave but with wood chisels!
It was like magic ! ....also showed me how to sharpen my incising chisels! It was and amazing transformation for me!
If the chisel is sharp and the tapping technique is followed  one comes out with perfect incised carving....Pushing a chisel by hand was the problem!

[Bob Gerard]

I have low skills with a chisel, so I use eXacto knives for incise carving. As stated above, blades have to be razor sharp and do go with the grain and scraping at the same angle to widen a line.

[Jim Filipski]

I have low skills with a chisel, so I use eXacto knives for incise carving. As stated above, blades have to be razor sharp and do go with the grain and scraping at the same angle to widen a line.

If this is the way you work it,.... You are doing well! Looks good to me

[Tom Currie]

Clean incise carving requires a very sharp V tool. I thought I had sharp tools before but took it to the next level with my V tool. Also requires HARD wood to cut clean cuts.

[Daryl]

Yes, indeed.