Technical question for you - I noticed in Chapters 3 and 4 that you used that #7 for quite a bit of the cutting, and for a long time. How often did you strop or even resharpen that tool while you were going through that process? It seemed to never lose its edge. I know you have good tools, I can see the Stubai brand on some of them, and know you would have nothing but the best, but even my Stubai, Lamp Brand and my best Addis needs touching up throughout a project, especially in such hard wood. I realize you wouldn't show that part of things, being more focused on the carving, but I was curious.
David,
That #7, 14mm was a Dastra tool (which I will start selling on my website shortly), and they definitely do hold an edge for a long time. I would say on a standard carving project like this where I am using a mallet and also pushing the tool through the wood, I had to sharpen it on the stone once through the process. Then I would touch it up with a leather strop 5 or 6 times throughout the project if it starts to feel like it is slowing down or looking like it is leaving little scratch marks on the wood. However, this "roughing out" part is a little more forgiving with the tool sharpness. The harder you hit with the mallet, the better it goes through the wood! This works much better with hard woods than soft wood, as the soft woods will just rip apart with dull chisels. Of course, the best scenario is to keep them sharp...
(Don't try this at home!) I remember teaching a very quick carving lesson to a group of 11 and 12 year olds, and I brought a bunch of my least favorite (is there such a thing?) and not very sharp gouges for them to work with and lots of mallets. Scarey, but they did a great job with some pretty dull gouges. What was even scarier was seeing the state of my gouges after they were finished. Even one of my mallets was shattered.
I was wondering how the knee block was dealt with when you mentioned you wonldn't be dealing with that on this segment of Acanthus leaves on leg? At the end, noted that it is attached so carving could be completed at the same time. Is that a temporary attachment? I ask only because I see the knee block usually added at the very end of the build, but the builds I've seen, those are cabriole legs without any carving. Is the knee block permanently attached for the carving? I was just curious how the knee block is blended into the carcass in this case?
The reason I did not carve the knee block was simply because for that particular lesson we were only focusing on the main acanthus leaf design. However, when I do these for clients, I usually have the knee block glued on before I carve, so the carving flows nicely where the knee block and knee is joined. When the knee block is attached, it is attached permanently. Then you can work on carving the knee block and getting the shape correct to blend with the carcass (sort of dry-fit to the carcass). I position the leg where it fits into the carcass, and scribe a line to where the knee block and knee should flow cleanly into the rest of the chair.
One thing I do if I am carving a ball and claw foot is to leave the knee blocks off until the ball and claw foot is finished. That way when I rotate the leg to access all sides, the knee blocks don't get in the way.
Very good video! I only have one simple nattering question. Are the terms " chisel" and "gouge" interchangeable, or is there some nattering difference between the two terms?
Well, that's a good question. Before I started teaching, I just casually interchanged between the 2 - not really considering any difference. Then when I started teaching, I realized that I needed to speak a little clearer with more accurate word definitions. So now (and I quite often accidentally switch one with the other when I am not thinking) I try to stick with a "chisel" as a straight chisel, and a "gouge" as anything with a curved blade. This isn't "official" as far as I can tell, because I often hear the term "woodcarving chisel" interchanged with "woodcarving gouge". I just try to keep them separated for clarification.
Hi Mary
Just to make the Chisel , Gouge dilemma even more interesting in fine woodworking and carpentry they only have a size as the sweep is usually the same , You have to try and figure in the bevel side either inside the curve or outside the curve hence the names like in-channel or out-channel, I'm Glade I found your site and cant believe the amount of hands information I have picked up already .... Thank You
Kind Regards
Glenn
Thanks, Mary, this really helps a lot. I have obsessed over this far too much! I found a dictionary definition of a gouge as, "a chisel with a concave blade," and the definition of a chisel as, "a long bladed hand tool with a beveled cutting edge .. that is struck with a hammer or mallet ..." Hence, this leads me to the truly pedantic conclusion that, "all gouges are chisels, but all chisels are not gouges." So, I think I now understand that the terms "carving gouge" and "chisel" are pretty much interchangeable -- with the exception that if the tool has a straight cutting edge (as you stated), it is a chisel and not a gouge! Yikes! TMI!
Very good video! I only have one simple nattering question. Are the terms " chisel" and "gouge" interchangeable, or is there some nattering difference between the two terms?
Well, that's a good question. Before I started teaching, I just casually interchanged between the 2 - not really considering any difference. Then when I started teaching, I realized that I needed to speak a little clearer with more accurate word definitions. So now (and I quite often accidentally switch one with the other when I am not thinking) I try to stick with a "chisel" as a straight chisel, and a "gouge" as anything with a curved blade. This isn't "official" as far as I can tell, because I often hear the term "woodcarving chisel" interchanged with "woodcarving gouge". I just try to keep them separated for clarification.
Hi Mary
Just to make the Chisel , Gouge dilemma even more interesting in fine woodworking and carpentry they only have a size as the sweep is usually the same , You have to try and figure in the bevel side either inside the curve or outside the curve hence the names like in-channel or out-channel, I'm Glade I found your site and cant believe the amount of hands information I have picked up already .... Thank You
Kind Regards
Glenn
Thanks, Mary, this really helps a lot. I have obsessed over this far too much! I found a dictionary definition of a gouge as, "a chisel with a concave blade," and the definition of a chisel as, "a long bladed hand tool with a beveled cutting edge .. that is struck with a hammer or mallet ..." Hence, this leads me to the truly pedantic conclusion that, "all gouges are chisels, but all chisels are not gouges." So, I think I now understand that the terms "carving gouge" and "chisel" are pretty much interchangeable -- with the exception that if the tool has a straight cutting edge (as you stated), it is a chisel and not a gouge! Yikes! TMI!
Well you sure are correct about making due with the tools you have when beginning carving. I dont have that many but am able to make the clarification and stop cuts with a close but not exact tool.After watching you easily do the job I am better able to get the job done with it looking pretty good for a beginner. Now if I could just stop carving my fingers!!!
Thanks Mary
Dave Richardson
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