I am enjoying getting to know your site, lessons and work. I, too, like fishtails. Could wish that Stubai were easier to find - strangely you see them all listed but can only find the small compact ones over here in Europe to buy on line. A question about V-tools: maybe I've gotten myself into a "carver's block", but I have only one small v-tool that lets me cut smoothly across the grain, the others (all good ones, mostly 60 degrees) are crunching across the grain and moving well only along it. What should I be looking at to work better?
Hello Ann,
My guess is that your other 60 degree v-chisels has a "sharpness" issue. Watch my sharpening a v-chisel lesson to make sure that the corner is sharpened correctly. They are very tricky to sharpen. The crunching that you are describing is definitely an issue with sharpness - unless the tools themselves are just low quality. But you mention Stubai, and they should have good quality metal.
Just found your site and am beginning to explore all that it has to offer. I'm an amateur carver with some good experience under my belt but I desire to improve my techniques! I notice that you rarely indicate that many of your gouges are fishtailed, which seems to me to be a good distinction to make. Any thing to add to this observation?
Hello Ann,
Welcome and I hope you enjoy the lessons!
I did mention on the "All about Gouges" video that fishtails are my preferred gouges, and the reasons why. I don't necessarily "require" them because they can get quite expensive and don't want this to be a deterrent to learning to carve if you are on a budget. As you will see through the videos, most of the time I do use fishtails in the lessons, but not always. Either straight or fishtail gouges will work with all projects.
Believe it or not, I did not need to sharpen or strop the tools during this carving. Maybe I used enough different ones to lower down the background that no one tool was used extensively. I did touch them up on a stone after finishing - just to make sure it is fresh and sharp for the next carving.
I'm really not sure, but if you go into any hardware store, any glue they have should work. But again - test it by gluing 2 scraps of wood before gluing your carving. It may end up being permanent!
From Ann F Margolies on All About Gouges - Beginner Lesson #3
Go to comment2015/05/16 at 2:19 pm
From Mary May on All About Gouges - Beginner Lesson #3
Go to comment2015/05/18 at 10:25 pm
From Ann F Margolies on All About Gouges - Beginner Lesson #3
Go to comment2015/05/16 at 6:18 am
From Mary May on All About Gouges - Beginner Lesson #3
Go to comment2015/05/16 at 8:43 am
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From Mary May on Carving a Queen Anne Fan - Episode 1
Go to comment2015/05/14 at 10:00 pm
From carol ward on Preparing to Carve - Beginner Lesson #1
Go to comment2015/05/12 at 7:41 am
From Mary May on Preparing to Carve - Beginner Lesson #1
Go to comment2015/05/12 at 8:50 am