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The box lid is curved so the first thing we need to do is shape the back of the carving so it's a snug fit. Obviously, if the surface to which you want to fix the shell is flat, you needn't do this! But it's a surprisingly easy thing to do and worth knowing about.
| 08 September 2020 09:24
Clark - You can absolutely do this as a relief carving!
The one thing I would point out is that with the paper sandwich method, you can merrily set in the outline and cut at will into the 'background' wood, which is of course the waste board that you'll split away to leave a neat edge to the carving.
With true relief work, one of the principal aims is NOT to cut visibly into the background...
| 06 September 2020 19:15
Hi Chris,
Would this work as a relief carving? If I lowered the background by about 2cm and then follow the project from there on. Any considerations that I should be aware of?
| 18 September 2012 10:09
Sandy - Any advice based on first hand experience is worth listening to! It was just a thought I had as I was going along, that boring the ends would be worthy trying for a more uniform effect, and no doubt my experience would have been similar. The effect of short grain, how weak it is, varies between different woods but, yes, in general it's vulnerable. Thanks for sharing.
| 16 September 2012 13:37
I am carving a scallop out of Cherry to adorn the stretcher of a bench I recently made at the Center for Furniiture Craftsmanship where you are currently teaching. I used the technique of drilling out the ends of the flutes prior to bandsawing and it worked quite well. However, if I had to do it over again, I would only drill the larger holes and leave the smaller holes for stabbing-in after all the shaping is done. I found that I had quite a problem with the short grain splitting out even though I was extremely careful. It appeared that the wood used in the video was a much softer wood, perhaps basswood. Although I would think that short grain is short grain no matter what the wood. Any thoughts? Oh yes, and eat a couple more Lobsters for me in Maine! Cheers...
