First Carving!

Ed Nelson

Member
Messages
1,486
Location
Charlotte, NC
I've been wanting to take a shot at carving for some time now. I bought a #5 Flexcut gouge for the spoon contest (wrong tool for that) and made a carving knife. Well here's what I came up with. Nothing special, but it was fun trying something new!

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Hi Ed, :wave:
I'm no carver but that looks real nice!:D Put that in perspective, what size are we looking at, how much time do you think you put in on it, ( only so other beginners, like me :D, might get the feel for what the time frame might be) and then answer me this... What are you doing carving WHEN YOU HAVE A FENCE TO FINISH?:rofl: Or... is the fence done?
S
 
It looks really good Ed. I admire folks who are artistic like this, and like the folks who show such graceful forms in their turnings. Many years ago I carved some basket weave on a slippery rifle stock grip and it went very well, but it was only straight lines, not graceful like this one of yours. Please show us more when you do more.

cheers eh?
 
It's pretty small. About 3"~3-1/2" square. I would guess I have no more than an hour in it. I saw the design online somewhere and just free handed the pattern on the block. I stopped by Woodcraft on my why home and they were telling me that Walnut was a difficult wood to carve:dunno:, guess it was a good thing I didn't know any better!:laugh2:
 
Nice job! specially if it is your first go at it. My first one was not even close to that at all.

When I started carving I got a few advices from a professional carver that now I'm passing onto you.

Use good and really sharp gouges, if you don't know how to sharpen them learn that first, otherwise your first jobs will look awful, be a nigthmare to make and hence you may become frustrated and give up.

Work big! Learning to carve by oneself is hard enough, don't make it worse trying to make wachtmaker jobs. You say that this flower is about 3" x 3", twice as that would have been better and easier.

Do not sand a piece, and carve it again, use rasps instead, sand paper leaves small particles emmbeded in the wood that will blunt the edges of your gouges and you'll have to hone them more often.

And last but not least, if it looks wrong IT IS WRONG. When working with volumes and you reach a point where you feel that there is something wrong but can't identify what it is, take the piece and look at it either upsidedown or at its reflected image on a mirror. Proportion errors will show up immediately.

I look forward to see your next job!.
 
Great job, Ed. I did some feeble attempts at carving many years ago, with improper tools, so I never came close to making something that nice. I have a friend in Albuquerque who's got a real talent for it. Hopefully someday I can get a chance to learn some from him.
...And last but not least, if it looks wrong IT IS WRONG. When working with volumes and you reach a point where you feel that there is something wrong but can't identify what it is, take the piece and look at it either upsidedown or at its reflected image on a mirror. Proportion errors will show up immediately...
That's great advice. I'm going to have to try the mirror trick with turned pieces. Sometimes it's difficult to visualize a piece when it's still mounted on the lathe, turned 90º from how it's going to be viewed.
 
looks good ed! toni is spot on with his advice too. i like walnut-n-mahogany for carving much more than some of the softer stuff, a little more effort but in the end it`ll hold details well and still be pretty wood.
 
That's great advice. I'm going to have to try the mirror trick with turned pieces. Sometimes it's difficult to visualize a piece when it's still mounted on the lathe, turned 90º from how it's going to be viewed.

Good point Vaughn! and depending whether you put the mirror, on the chuck or on the other side you'll see your bowl or whatever, standing right or upside down.

Furthermore, if you are sketching on a piece of paper you just can flip the sheet, put it against the light of your room a look at it through the paper you'll achieve the same results, no need of going to the toilet mirror to check it.
 
Thanks guys! I really appreciate the advice. Sharpening it probably the one area I need to work on more than anything else! I have never been good at sharpening knives. Scary sharp with irons and chisels works pretty well, although I can probably improve on that too. Gouges seem more like knives, so I'm sure I'll struggle with that.
 
Don't be misled with that, unless your knives have curved blades:rofl:

One more advice, test the sharpness of your gouges cutting across de grain, then you'll know if they are sharp or not.

let me add to toni`s advice......cut crossgrain on sugar pine....if you can do that it`s sharp! mahogany-n-walnut cut 10x nicer than sugar pine.
 
Here is my first (and only) carving. It's been sitting in a drawer, not completed, for what ... 8 or 9 years?

It's the result of a community ed class taught at a local Jr. High. The only other students that lasted the whole 8 weeks were two young brothers ... maybe 8 and 10 years old. Gee .. they must in (or OUT of) high school now!

The teacher provided the routed pine panel and the pattern. All I had to do was bring it each week and ... pick at it for an hour. (I have a hard time finishing things. :dunno:)

Kudos, Ed - for getting in there and doing it on your own!

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Kerry, that's a good looking piece of carving. You ought to go ahead and finish it! I would like to try out some different type tools, but I think this is something that can definitely add to some of my future work!
 
Hi Kerry.

Good job! Nice and clean, you should definitely carry on and finish it, you're mopre than halfway through!

Get rid of the "flat" sensation by rounding the apple a bit more and the leaves as well, remove the surrounding material, it will make the figure pop out and give you more room to work.

Look at natural leaves of similar shape, take one or two to your workbench, compare the look, the curves and the volumes, do the same for the apple.

We think that we know how a leave and an apple are, but in fact we don't know. We know how they look like but not how THEY ARE.

Light your work from one side, see how shadows reveal the form, then light it from the other.

I look forward to see it finished in a couple of weeks time! Go for it!:thumb:
 
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