You can use soft Arkansas stones for more aggressive sharpening, but use hard Arkansas stones for final sharpening. Surgical black or translucent are the best and are the hardest, but they can get quite expensive. It is also best to use hard Arkansas stones for slip stones.
Wonderful lesson Mary. Lots to learn here. I liked that you didn't have the leave design totally worked out in your head before you started to actually carve it. It illustrates the creative process very well and encourages us to think that way too, although when I carve it I will probably follow pretty closely the way you did it until I feel more capable of evaluating different options on my own.
Mike,
I believe the best (and quickest) way to learn any skill is to follow and study the people who have mastered the technique - often using or copying the exact designs. Once you get the skill and technique down, that's when you can go and design and create your own. Once you finish this carving, take the same elements (grapes and leaves and vine) and try to design them differently - adding leaves, changing the shape of the grape cluster, etc. Then the possibilities are endless!
I'm pretty sure I would rather use my router to lower the background on a piece of this size for two reasons, firstly for accuracy, but also solve potential problems with knots or aberrant grain. That said, I can appreciate that all of your students probably don't have routers. I do like your method of cutting down to the line around the edges before attacking the top surface as this seems like a great way to insure accuracy and also efficiency. I will certainly use it with smaller pieces.
Lowering the background by hand is also a good lesson in controlling the tool. Remember the "Karate Kid" movie with the "wax-on, wax-off" teaching? It may have been a very tedious job or technique, but what he learned was so valuable in the basis of his art. Well, with this, the accuracy and control of carving a surface as flat as possible with a hand gouge will give you the skill, control and accuracy to be able to tackle a lot of other issues that come up in carving. Making a rough surface flat is a surprisingly difficult technique (not only tedious). But you learn a lot!
Hi Mary i was so impressed by your carving technique that i decided to take up back my first love which is furniture making, i can build but i couldn't carve i learned how to build at 17 straight out of high school when i was in Jamaica then i came to the USA in 1994 and never built another piece of furniture as i started a new career in construction now that i'm getting older i want to do some lighter work. Any way after watching you i have a list of chisels that that i would love to start with i'm not too sure about the size for a vainer here is the list that i have composed tell me what you think 60% V chisel, #1-14mm, #3-3mm, #3-6mm, #3-14mm, #7-14mm, #8-14mm,
That is a great starter set. The veiner I usually recommend is a #11, 3mm. However, that tool is often used for carving particular details in acanthus leaf and is often used for more advanced carving. Many of the beginning projects will not need that tool.
I would suggest your next tools to add to your set be the following (more advanced carving): #5-6mm, #5-14mm, #7-6mm, #7-10mm, #8-10mm, #11-3mm
I really enjoy your lessons and find them to be very informative. I just got the bug again to start carving again after a number of years doing nothing with it and need a some advice. I want to basically start over as thou I'm a newbie. I have purchased the DMT stones that you are using but I do have a few questions concerning your sharpening process. How much pressure and what angle to the stone should be maintained? By the angle I mean horizontal to the stone and not vertically. it seems that you are @ 90 deg and your pressure looks rather light. In my attempts I seem to be arcing a bit , maybe it's just reptative practice. Another question I just purchased some older chisels on eBay, they are stamped Hugo Paffenhoff, and I cannot find any information about them. Any clues where I can look?
Hi Frank,
If I am understanding your question correctly, the angle of the chisel to the stone is 90 degrees. Watch the video again and notice my entire body moves along the edge of the stone which keeps the tool positioned at a 90 degree angle to the stone (not twisting or turning that angle).
When you are first getting comfortable with sharpening, don't put too much pressure (it can go bad quickly). If you are confident with the position, angle, etc, then you can press down as hard as is comfortable. There are quite often times when I press quite hard and I have pretty significant dents in my fingers where they press on the metal of the gouge. The more pressure or weight you put on the tool, the faster the tool will sharpen.
I am not familiar with Hugo Paffenhoff tools. Usually European tools are good quality, so my guess is if they are older chisels, they should be good. You may want to simply google the name and see what comes up.
From Jon Stern on Sharpening a V-Chisel - Beginner Lesson #5
Go to comment2015/03/23 at 6:41 pm
From Mary May on Sharpening a V-Chisel - Beginner Lesson #5
Go to comment2015/03/24 at 8:57 pm
From Mike on Carving a Grape & Leaf Design - Episode 4
Go to comment2015/03/21 at 1:56 pm
From Mary May on Carving a Grape & Leaf Design - Episode 4
Go to comment2015/03/21 at 11:01 pm
From Mike on Carving a Grape & Leaf Design - Episode 1
Go to comment2015/03/21 at 10:57 am
From Mary May on Carving a Grape & Leaf Design - Episode 1
Go to comment2015/03/21 at 10:53 pm
From howard sewell on Carving the Ball & Claw Foot - Episode 5
Go to comment2015/03/21 at 9:03 am
From Mary May on Carving the Ball & Claw Foot - Episode 5
Go to comment2015/03/21 at 10:44 pm
From Frank Stobierski on Sharpening a Curved Gouge - Beginner Lesson #4
Go to comment2015/03/20 at 6:20 pm
From Mary May on Sharpening a Curved Gouge - Beginner Lesson #4
Go to comment2015/03/21 at 10:39 pm