Before starting

[Jorundr]

Before starting off..

Yesterday I got my carving tools inhouse, a piece of Tilia and a viking knotwork motive that i have drawn-over on the piece of wood with a pencil. I drew the middle piece in the width on the wood.



Now before I start to carve into this wood I would like to ask some question about were to start for example, I already got some knowledge about the tools and their purposes but i'm still not sure were to start.
I know this isn't proberly the best piece to begin with but I wanted to give it a good try anyway.

I would really appriciate any kind of advice or feedback!
Just to push me into the right direction.

Thanks in advance!
Jorundr.
Cheers

[squbrigg]

Nice design. I suggest beginning with outlining your traced marks with "stop cuts" using a knife or series of gouge cuts. Then remove the background material using gouges.

Keep us posted on your progress and welcome aboard.

Bob

[Jorundr]

Originally Posted by squbrigg

Nice design. I suggest beginning with outlining your traced marks with "stop cuts" using a knife or series of gouge cuts. Then remove the background material using gouges.

Keep us posted on your progress and welcome aboard.

Bob

Thank you for the help Bob, I will do this and when finished I shall post about it.

Cheers,
Jorundr.

[Jorundr]

Ok, here's a update from what I did this morning.

I used a V gouge tool to cut away the outer lines of the knotwork design and I started to try out some tools while carving out some inner spaces between the decorations (tho i'm not sure if this was such a good idea).

Here's a quick shot of what it looks like now.



Please do tell me if i made any errors or msitakes.
Im waiting till taking the next step.

Cheers,
Jorundr.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I am sure it will be great, but would have been outstanding as a woodburning as well......you are tackling a big project for a first one....lol

[Ron Davidson]

From what it sounds like you are doing a relief. What kind of wood are you using and how thick is it. If it is a knot of some kind you will want to recess the background area at about a half inch deep depending on thye pattern. Take your knife and holding it like a pencil cut straight dowm following the lines you have drawn and then take a gouge or chisel and remove the wood up to this cut. This is called a stop cut. Don't be afraid to ask for help or ask questions.
Ron

[Jorundr]

Originally Posted by Hi_Ho_Sliver

I am sure it will be great, but would have been outstanding as a woodburning as well......you are tackling a big project for a first one....lol

Hehe, hell yeah! That would indeed look great aswell. And about the size, well I wasn't really able to find a small design so I took a rather simple one with not to many little parts.

Originally Posted by Ron Davidson

From what it sounds like you are doing a relief. What kind of wood are you using and how thick is it. If it is a knot of some kind you will want to recess the background area at about a half inch deep depending on thye pattern. Take your knife and holding it like a pencil cut straight dowm following the lines you have drawn and then take a gouge or chisel and remove the wood up to this cut. This is called a stop cut. Don't be afraid to ask for help or ask questions.
Ron

Yeah, thats corrent I indeed want to make a relief.
That is kinda what i'm doing at the moment, i'm making deep cuts with a sharp chisel and then cut the wood away in the direction of the cut with a V shaped or a half round gouge. I hope this is what you ment.

Anyway about the wood.. I thought this is a softer wood tho i'm not sure i'll link the tree spiecie : Tilia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lime wood

The plank i'm working on is about 3 centimeters thick (1.2 inch).

At the moment i'm continuing with removing the background matirial after that I would like to know how to round of the upper parts to make it look more smooth.

I'm really grateful and delighted that I get such great responces on here, it's really motivating.

Thank You,
Jorundr.

[markken5889]

I'll suggest you take a garving gouge, perhaps a #5 sweep, and use it up-side down to round-over your edges. clean it up with a #3 rightside up to smooth that out. Good luck with this ambitious piece!

Mark

[squbrigg]

Looks like you have a good start. Experiment with the tools, see what works best for you. The "V" tool can be great for outlining work , though so can a gouge, using a plunge cut. Some good advice already on here, so have fun with it.

Bob

[Clifford_Parker]

Did your tools come pre-sharpened from a reputable company? The marks look pretty rough for sharp tools on tilia. Lime (Tilia europaea) is very similar in characteristics to our Basswood (tilia americana) and rough cuts with lots of "fuzzies" usually result from dull tools.