Replies

1. 
   withthegrain | May 27, 2005 07:32pm | #1

   As with all new skills, the desire to learn them is the most important aspect. I learned to carve by taking a class from someone who really knew what they were doing. Chris Pye teachs classes every year in Maine at The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. Not only a good carver but a very helpful teacher. Nora Hall is teaching all over the country this summer, do a little research and see if she will be in your area. The type of carving you are wanting to learn is pretty basic so maybe even the local carving club can get you started. As everyone says, the hardest part to learn is how to sharpen all those curved tools.

   Hope this helps,

   Best of luck, Dennis

1. 
   WillGeorge | May 29, 2005 11:19pm | #2

   The type of carving you are wanting to learn is pretty basic ..   NOT TRUE!  Carving is a ART!

   I can do anything well.. ALMOST... Cept carving.. I can cut a prefect line BUT.. NO gift of what that line should be!

   I once made a almost perfec carving of a Elephant in hard wood.. Took me a few years to do it..  I only cut when I had 'THE THOUGHTS IN MY HEAD'  Not many have the time or want to wait that long...

2. 
   Miami | May 29, 2005 11:42pm | #3

   If what you're looking for is the somewhat-random rows of concave gouge marks over a wide flat surface, the best way to get it is with a scrub plane.  LV has just come out with a brand new one, and older Stanley #40s are available on ebay regularly. 

   Or, if you want to do it on the real-cheap (like I did), you can buy one of the many narrow German-style 'horned' planes on eBay with a thick iron, and (if it's not already set up as a scrub) radius the iron and open the mouth as needed.  As long as it's tight and not cracked, these are relatively safe eBay buys - not much else about a scrub is critical.

   The radiused bit leaves exactly that surface, you don't have to learn to carve, and it's some of the most fun and rewarding planing there is.  I was in a shop where a guy had a tabletop he'd done like that - smoothed it out just a little bit (and burnished it maybe?) and put a finish on it.  I'm tellin' ya, it was the hit of the shop - no one who walked in could keep their hands off of it.  For this purpose, a relatively long radius may be best, so that wine glasses don't tip, plates don't rock, etc.

   Clay