There are a lot of people out there in Knotsland who can carve rings around me (Ray, feel free to jump in here anytime), but people have asked how to get started and I thought I’d throw my two cents in. I am making a carved mirror and I found a pattern I liked on the Internet. The good news is that it readily lends itself to being on a rectangular mirror frame, but the bad news is that it is a painting, so I had to replace certain sections of it to make it work. It was also too short, so I added more of the same kind of flowers and leaves as were already there. This may sound like I have some drawing skill, but I don’t. I will show you how you can do the same thing as we go through this.
There are two ways I could do this carving. I could use thicker stock for the frame and carve it directly onto it, or I could do the carvings on separate pieces of wood and cut them free after I’m done. Then they’re glued to the frame. This is called “applied carving” and it’s the way I decided to do it for this project. I’ll post a number of shots showing my progress so you can see the steps that I took.
The first picture is the design I found on the Web. I traced it onto a piece of tracing paper and you can see that I started to add to it.
Then I taped the tracing to the wood with a piece of graphite paper in between and traced it onto the wood. Graphite paper is like carbon paper, but it doesn’t leave dark smudges on the wood like carbon paper does. You can get it from Lee Valley.
Once I had the image on the wood, I used a V-parting tool to outline it. The purpose of this is to create a line that is visible to guide me with the next step.
Once I had the image on the wood, I used a V-parting tool to outline it. The purpose of this is to create a line that is visible to guide me with the next step.
I used a router to remove a section of wood around the design. The depth of the cut is just under 3/8”. Don’t try to get into the little nooks and crannies. Just remove the wood around the design. I used a ¾” straight router bit and did it carefully in one pass. I know that this is a much deeper cut than is normally used for routing, but it worked for me as long as I kept the feed rate slow and paid attention to the sound of the motor.
The next step is to use a mallet and different carving tools to cut the remaining wood from the outline of the carving. Take your time and cut straight down. You don’t have to get all the way to the depth of the router in one go. When some people picture using a mallet they think that they need to whack the daylights out of the gouge. This is not so. A firm tap is a hard as you want to go. The idea is control, not hogging out a lot of wood.
You may wonder what gouges you need to get started with carving. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer because it depends on the kind of carving that you are doing. The detail in this piece is rather small, so I didn’t need to use any large gouges. I used a few #2s, #3s, #5s and one #7 as well as the V-parting tool. I recommend that you buy a 2mm #2 gouge because you can really get into small spaces with it.
I should probably address safety at this point. There are two ways that you can do some serious harm to yourself when carving with razor sharp gouges. If you have one hand on the gouge and the other one holding the workpiece, you’re asking for trouble. I will guarantee that sooner or later the gouge will slip and you will sink it into your hand right to the bone. The other way to cause real damage is to carve towards yourself. This is potentially fatal. Imaging having both hands on the gouge and pulling it towards you. The gouge slips and you bury it up to the hilt in your abdomen. Not good.
The proper way to hold a carving gouge is with both hands. You put your left hand on the shaft of the tool and your right hand on the handle. You apply pressure with the heel of your right hand and control the gouge with your left. If you are going to be a carver, you need to be able to carve both right and left handed. This is not as hard as it might seem. One you’ve done it for a few hours, it will be second nature to you. I tried to post a picture of the correct way to hold the gouge, but couldn’t do it.
I will add some additional information and pictures if anyone’s interested as I make more progress.
Jim
Replies
Thanks Jim
Nothing like a little humility to give one incentive to learn. I've been reading tutorials and studying the subject of carving after my recent embarrassment.
Bret
hey jim,
excellent "getting
hey jim,
excellent "getting started" images and text. it is at the point of your last picture that the real challenges begin. the delicate shaping of all those flowers as they lie in relation to one another is, for me, where the work begins. having a 3-d reference image is most helpful. sometimes i can eskew the depths and textures from a 2-d image, but mostly not. even that small bit of "adding to it" that you did is beyond me, in terms of sketching or drawing, i mean. some while back i carved a bunch of leaves in walnut and what kept the process moving was some actual leaves to reference from.
thanks for posting and let us see your progress.
eef
Drawing
Eef,
You're right, the next steps really make the carving come alive. I'll have some more pictures and comments before too long. As far as drawing goes, it's really a lot easier than you might think. If you look at the original picture, the flowers have a roundish center with four top petals. In life the petals are probably pretty close to the same height above the center, but in my carving I want to make them appear at slightly different heights to create a greater sense of depth. Although the painting doesn't show the secondary petals very well, I assumed that there were four of them and that they were 45 degrees away from the top ones and that they were bigger. So I drew them in that way. Then I added a couple of leaves which I will shape so that they look like they're poking up from underneath. The painting that I used as a starting point shows stylized flowers...they may not be botanically correct (I don't know if they are or not). In carving, the drawing does not have to be exact. It serves as a guide when you start using the gouges. You will make minor adjustments as you do the carving based on what "feels right." Below is a step-by-step picture of how to draw the simple flower.
Jim
2nd installment
The next stage in creating the carving is to make vertical cuts along the lines that separate the petals. Don't go too deep...maybe 1/8" at most on the first cut. If you go deeper you run the risk of splitting the wood, especially if your cut is with the grain. Then remove the material on the second (lower) petals. Cut a little deeper and repeat the process. Most new carvers make the mistake of not cutting deep enough. You want to get these cuts half way to the depth of the routed section. This will allow you to shape the top petals. It seemed to me that they would be lowest at the center and would gradually rise as they reached the ends. I also thought that they would have a slightly concave shape. I used a #4 gouge to make these cuts. Note that I left the line drawings of the leaves intact. They will be cut so that the tips are the highest point and the bottoms will appear to be disappearing behind the petals. I work my way across the surface of the workpiece shaping the top petals and the leaves. In my next installment I will add some shape to the bottom petals and undercut the carvings to create a greater sense of depth.
OK, here is some woodcarving theory. One thing that you will notice pretty quickly is that the direction of the grain affects the way the wood can be carved. Contrary to what you might think, carving across the grain is pretty easy as long as you have a sharp tool. But be careful if you are working on a small piece; it can snap right off without warning (it's short grain). Carving with the grain leaves a smooth finish when you are making shallow cuts, but deeper cuts can be a problem in that the cut can follow the grain instead of the intended line. Carving against the grain can result in a rough surface or can rip out pieces of wood, much like planing against the grain. Nevertheless, sometimes you have no choice but to carve against the grain and when you do you have to be careful and take short, shallow passes. How much the grain will affect your carving depends on the type of wood you are using and the characteristics of that particular piece. It is not uncommon to be carving merrily along with the grain and then run into a section where the grain runs in the opposite direction. When this happens you should try carving in the opposite direction or diagonally across the wood.
I think Nora Hall gave the best description of how grain affects carving. She said to imagine two brooms pushed together. If you run your right hand diagonally (from right to left) through the point where they meet, the bristles of the broom will feel smoother on the back of your hand and rougher on the palm. This is because you are deflecting the bristles away from the back of your hand on the right side. If you run your hand diagonally from left to right, the bristles on your palm will feel smoother. When you are carving wood, one side of the cut will be smoother than the other because of this phenomenon. If you are cutting a wide cove, you would finish it by carving in one direction on one side and the opposite direction on the other. If you are carving a circle around your work, you want to use the following technique to make sure that the rough side of the cut is on the outside. Start at the top (parallel to the grain) and carve to the 3:00 position. Then start at 6:00 and carve to meet the other line at 3:00. Then repeat from 12:00 to 9:00 and 6:00 to 9:00. I hope that this makes some kind of sense.
I remember the first time I tried to carve something. I whacked a chisel into a piece of wood (against the grain, as it turned out) until a big piece of wood split out of it. Time for some information. I bought a number of books on carving and found some to be much better than others. I also bought some videos and found them more useful than the books because they demonstrated the technique as well as talking about it. Finally I took a week-long carving course and found that to be the most effective learning method for me. There is no substitute for someone standing by your shoulder saying, "not that way....this way". When I am trying to get a smooth transition where the grain direction changes I can still hear Dimitrios saying "scoop it, Jimmy, scoop it" in my mind.
More later.
Jim
HI eef,
Nope, just been up to my eyeballs in alligators for the past 6 months or so. Trying to get back into Knots but..... damn gators, LoL.
Regards,
bob,
after 56 years roaming this veil of tears it is, as yet, difficult to avoid the alligators. although i'm getting just a little better at not inviting 'em in, if you know what i mean.
it's just good to see you again, bob.
eef
Excellent thread, Jim. Do you know someone who can take photos as you are working?
Wish I could
Ralph,
Unfortunately I'm a one-man shop. Maybe I can get my wife to come out and take a few shots over the weekend. I've been pulled away for another project and have to get back to this one.
Jim
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled