The art of the rough out

[Spookhouse]

Originally Posted by Phaeton

I think the Ozark Character is in Issue 35 on page 72 by Mike Shipley and it's 2-1/8" x 2" x 4". Mike said "Start by roughing out your blank on a bandsaw." and I think this is where the word roughout came from but basically it's a carving from a pattern.

In the picture below I think the block on the left is called a "cutout" or shaped only with a bandsaw, and the block on the right is a "roughout" or rough shaped with a duplicating machine.

The shorebird is my current project done with a pattern and I think this method will work for you if you make a front and side pattern like the one shown and carve until it fits. You can tell I over-cut the head and rump areas but what the heck, I just wanted to get it close.

Bill
^v^

I think you just cleared it up for me i made a cut out from the pattern and from there i need to carve a roughout and that's why my cut out did not look like mike shipley's roughout. I thought i just had not followed directions or did it wrong or something sometimes im dumb.

[Spookhouse]

Originally Posted by Lynn O. Doughty

One of the first mistakes a beginning carver makes is trying to cut out a blank following someone elses pattern. After transferring the pattern to the wood they cut it out following the lines. Unfortunately, the pattern they transferred is the "finished" outline of the carving. Once they start removing wood they are carving off wood that was part of the finished original.

When I use a pattern I always allow extra wood outside the pattern line, especially if it is a finished pattern. Check out the cook on my blog and you'll see what I mean. Never would I saw any detail, such as the exact outline of the nose, ears, hair, etc. This can be done with the knife as you carve.

I think your right on this i just used the pattern in the magazine and most likely cut to much off.

[Thomp]

This thread reminds me of a breakfast cereal commercial of the late 60's "Crispy Critters" where the cartoon charter gets trampled with all the animals in a stampede, only to arise out of the dust at the end of the commercial all screwed up, to say "all i said was crispy critters"

with following the line of the topic, and the delouse of diverse information that followed...
and I as one of the contributor's to the confusion i have to say sorry if you have completely lost track and fell into a cragmire of confusion..

Lots of the best information on this subject has been given here, that i have ever heard.

one bit of advise on band saw rough outs,,, even though you have left yourself some fudge room outside the finished project dimensions when cutting out the pattern with the saw, when you start carving you cant just put yourself in automatic chip removal mode,

if you have an uncontrollable urge to just make chips go out and set on the front porch with a stick and make a pile of whittling like Jed clampit till you get that out of your system...

you need to seriously stop and study every bump and Vally on the rough out get familure with it, maybe even re-map the rough out with pencil lines, make center lines to keep it symeterical and remarking the shape and pattern of the caricature continously, arm position and such, over and over again many times as you start to remove the chips and waste wood.. it keeps you on track....

then hone your blades, mount your thumb guard and glove and get with it....

good luck...
Thomas

[Phaeton]

You were right on Spookhouse and it was an excellent question, we are in the beginner section and I thought a picture of a cutout and roughout would help other beginners (that do not get the magazine) reading this thread understand you are talking about the roughout process and not a purchased "roughout", it was very confusing for me in the beginning.
I've not been carving as long as you have but I did start out last October (when I joined this forum) with a cutout from sugarpine, the decoy next to my handle is carving #10, this shorebird will be # 23 so I'm really new to carving. Hey Dave and Thomp, I don't even have a bandsaw or a place to put one, I do my cutouts with a $10 coping saw...LOL..

I still don't know what the woodcarver definition of a "blank" is, I always thought it was the beginning block of wood but Dux'Dekes call their unfinished carvings "blanks". http://www.duxdekes.com/blank.html
I ordered one just to see what they were like and they are as advertised, "ready to paint right out of the box".

I picked up this method of working with pattern cutouts from Del Herbert (a master bird carver) and it's been a great help getting the size and proportions right.

I really think it's the final small cuts and finish that make the carving good or bad and we as artist are completely on our own when it comes to that.


HappY Trails
Bill
^v^

[Thomp]

Phaeton,

Sorry if i forced any comments that anyone had to use a bandsaw or scrollsaw to make a rough cut out of a pattern, certinly a coping saw could be used in both of the harold enlow books i have he shows how to use mallet and chizzle to remove the biggest chunks of waste,
it could even be chipped away... if you enjoy making chips, but in todays world, it seams we all want instant gradification and do everything at 5 miles above the speed limit..
the times of taking it easy are creeping up on me, i do a lot of things the old way and i love it, i dont have to think up a new project every day just keep on track to finish up the ones i got started.....

enjoy which ever method you adapt... heck if we had to make carving pay or make us a living it wouldnt be fun, we would all be carpenders...

thomas.

[Phaeton]

Hey Thomas,

A bandsaw is definitely on my wish list, all I have to do is fit it in the budget and talk my 30 year old Harley into sharing the bike room with it.

My last two full size ducks were carved with tool's in the shop, a saws-all and a buffer with an 8" - 40 grit disk, they can drag a duck out of a block of wood in just 20 minutes.

HappY Trails
Bill
^v^

[Thomp]

I had my eye on a bench-top bandsaw at harbor freight, for $129.00 but noticed they had cannibalized it and left it as display for over a year dissasembled.
i was thinking if the parts were that hard to find it would be best for me to pay the guy at the cabinet shop to cut out my blanks of 3" stock or bigger $5.00 a pop...
Currently Im out of room, i share my bedroom with my scrollsaw. and have to put all my bench top tools in a cabinet on the porch i simply don't have the room for a bandsaw of quality first they are too heavy to lift when needed, for me with my 20lb. weight lifting restriction, and i cant afford a $250.00.+ good one.
Thomas

[RoundRiver]

Here is my no frills marking system....

Mainly for larger work(24" and bigger).

I get three to six 3-d views of the object and print them out on 8"x10" computer paper. Then i cut them out like a paper doll, after that I slip them into a plastic see through sleave for easy viewing.
Now i have my reference shapes, I circle the raw matierial and place the shapes on the ground with a stone to mark my place. So when i start carving, if i need to check my cuts i walk to the corrisponding sleave, hold it up, and i can see how close i am.

This is my system...however mainly for chainsaw sculpture.

Hope it helps

Russell

[Thomp]

have you tried the transparent films you can print on for overhead projectors

it may eliminate the need for the plastic sleeves....

i used them for scrollsaw when doing stacked nameplates
the stacked project 4-5 layers cut with ssaw and name area left untouched
then opened stack and did the names individually...

it allowed quicker alignment and a true view through the pattern to assure the longer names didn't run into the scroll work

the clear might allow you to back up and enlarge your pattern on the log or give you a guideline as to if your staying on pattern...as you carve with the chain saw
my 2 cents

[RoundRiver]

Exactly T!

Every bit helps

Russell