Menu
The trick or, rather, the skill here is to make the backgound look flat, so it passes beneath the subject as if the subject were stuck on. Try and visualise the surface as it passes beneath the flower and leaves.You don't need it to be engineeringly flat, but we do want a believable effect.
You may well ask, why don't we just stick the subject on? Well, you could, and that's call 'appliqué', another branch of the carving tree.You'll see it in a lot of furniture, fireplaces etc. But here is another thought. We are carving a simple flower. If I were carving one leaf above another, I'd want the lower leaf, which is effectively the 'background' now, to pass believably beneath the one above. It's the same idea.
| 09 August 2023 22:05
Simon - If you were to ask a centipede which leg moves first, it'll think too much and than will either freeze or fall over!
It's both, working together; sometimes a bit more of one that the other but, essentially it's a combined effort. Just do a lot of it, focus on the results of your slicing and all becomes quite natural after a while.
| 03 August 2023 10:24
Hi Chris. This has been bugging me so I'm going to ask. For example when you are lowering and making the slicing cut, which hand is controlling the lateral movement of the chisel? The hand on the handle or the hand on the blade? Cheers
| 08 April 2020 20:23
David - You've ordered a fishtail chisel; in other words a chisel with pronounced corners.
1. I use fishtail chisels for letter carving - particularly for the serifs - though usually a little narrower, but that's neither here nor there really.
2. It also works as a chisel! Whenever you want a truly flat edge, a chisel is the right tool.
3. Lastly, you can use it for finishing, smoothing rounded surfaces. In some ways you can think of a chisel as a gouge with an infinite radius sweep.
So at least 3 good reasons to cherish this tool when you get it!
| 08 April 2020 03:16
Chris, I accidentally ordered a Pfeil #1F-20 Chisel. Thought I was getting a leveling gouge. Is there any reason I would need this chisel? It is a double bevel chisel.
| 23 May 2019 14:06
Jim - If you put 'scrapers' into the search box, top left, you'll find a video on woodcarvers' scrapers which will start you off. They certainly speed up the time between rasping, say, and sanding, and can be made to finish off in their own right. The beauty is the they can be made ad hoc for just what you need at the time.
| 23 May 2019 07:20
Chris, Thank you for your response. I have never tried using a scraper. I have seen other carvers on Youtube use them. I had not considered that it would leave a different finish. I was more interested if it could speed up the cleanup. You have piqued my curiosity if a scraper could give a different effect on the way the light reflected off the wood and be used to enhance a carving. This is a technique I would like to experiment with.
| 05 May 2019 10:09
Jim - If you are prepared to put the effort in!
I know the following thoughts aren't part of your questions but, the thing is, the scraper gives a different finish. Left from the flat gouge, you have a lightly facetted surface, which I think is quite lovely and shows the hand carving. If you scrape this, you get a flat, smooth surface, only a bit less smooth than sanding. Scraping is also an extra amount of work. It's valuable when you want to show off wood figuring but, the way I carve, mostly just more effort to little of no gain. In the picture above, for example there would be little benefit in removing the lightly texturing from the background.
Last thought: Some carvers will scrape or sand a surface because they cannot carve it cleanly to a finish. Scraping and sanding should be seen as options, not necessities. You need to be able to carve cleanly, scrape or sand with equal facility, then you can exercise free a choice about how you want your piece to look.
| 03 May 2019 23:22
Would a scraper work for larger areas?
| 28 November 2017 22:08
Alan - I don't know where you are writing from but I'd suggest an online search for 'woodcarving tool suppliers'. There are a lot out there.
14mm is 1/2", pretty much, and the flat gouge would be Pfeil cut number 2 or, for Henry Taylor, Auriou or Ashley Iles, a number 3 in the Sheffield list. Any of those makes are good tools.
| 28 November 2017 21:35
Hi - Can you let me know where I can get a 14mm flat gouge. I cannot seem to find one.
Regards
Alan
