Carpenter at work

[Janet]

I'm writing a short story about a carpenter who produces hand crafted furniture. Could anyone please help me with a few details to make the story authenic?

He works from a small one man workshop in England. It is summer so he is working in the outdoor area just outside his rural workshop.

He's carving a series of leaves or a scroll on a piece of wood (maybe for the back of a dining chair or the side of a chest) and I need him to be momentarily distracted by another character talking to him, so the tool slips and he cuts his hand (no serious damage just enough to make it bleed).

I imagine a skilled craftsman wouldn't be likely to let this happen, so what tool could he be using that would make the situation credible?

Or maybe he wouldn't talk as he worked on something so intricate, so I'd need to have him doing something more routine but still requiring a hand tool of some sort? any suggetsions here would be great.

Would the wood be secured to his bench in anyway so it wouldn't slide about? Or would he need it to be unsecured so he could keep changing its position as he worked?

Would he be sitting at the bench or standing as he worked?

I'm guessing he wouldn't have done any previous work to the piece of wood he was carving other than drawing an outline of his design. (just in case the carving went wrong--then he wouldn't have invested a lot of time in shaping it?)

Would he wear any special kind of work clothing or just be dressed in T-shirt and jeans?

It's the tiny details that make a story ring true so I'd love to get this right.

[Thor]

Maybe he dropped a carving tool and did the big no no....he caught it.

[SchreiberBike]

I'll take a stab at this. Perhaps someone from the British Isles would have confirm my prejudices about what happens over there.

Originally Posted by Janet

I'm writing a short story about a carpenter who produces hand crafted furniture. Could anyone please help me with a few details to make the story authentic?

He works from a small one man workshop in England. It is summer so he is working in the outdoor area just outside his rural workshop.

He's carving a series of leaves or a scroll on a piece of wood (maybe for the back of a dining chair or the side of a chest) and I need him to be momentarily distracted by another character talking to him, so the tool slips and he cuts his hand (no serious damage just enough to make it bleed).

I imagine a skilled craftsman wouldn't be likely to let this happen, so what tool could he be using that would make the situation credible?

It can happen to even a skilled craftsman. As Thor described above, one of the easy mistakes to make would be to put a gouge down and have it fall or roll off the bench. If the tool falls on a hard surface, the edge will be damaged and will require as much as 30 minutes work to repair. If you grab at it without control, it's easy to grab it by a sharp edge. When working, an English craftsman would be holding a gouge in one hand and if he's removing a lot of wood or working on a hard wood such as oak, holding a mallet in the other hand. Mallet work makes an irregular tapping sound that might add mood. An American might do the job with a knife.

Originally Posted by Janet

Or maybe he wouldn't talk as he worked on something so intricate, so I'd need to have him doing something more routine but still requiring a hand tool of some sort? any sugggestions here would be great.

He probably wouldn't talk as he is actually carving, but he could easily be pausing during his work and a tool could roll off his bench

Originally Posted by janet

Would the wood be secured to his bench in anyway so it wouldn't slide about? Or would he need it to be unsecured so he could keep changing its position as he worked?

An English or European carver working on flat stock such as you describe would almost certainly have the work secured in a "tail vice" which is part of his work bench

Originally Posted by janet

Would he be sitting at the bench or standing as he worked?

Standing, almost certainly

Originally Posted by janet

I'm guessing he wouldn't have done any previous work to the piece of wood he was carving other than drawing an outline of his design. (just in case the carving went wrong--then he wouldn't have invested a lot of time in shaping it?)

Would he wear any special kind of work clothing or just be dressed in T-shirt and jeans?

Probably a cloth or leather apron.

Originally Posted by janet

It's the tiny details that make a story ring true so I'd love to get this right.

Have fun.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Don't forget....being English he's certainly have a vest, shirt and tie on.

[Ashbys]

He's English ?

Then you know the English workshop is the local pub and he most likly got cut while reaching for his pint.

Cheers

Just trying to help.

[slivers&dust]

On the cover of the last issue of FINE WOODWORKING (or the one before the last) is a picture of a furniture maker carving the back of a chair (very cool).
In the photo you can see a lot of how his shop is set up, tools, how the piece is clamped, etc. (and how he is working on the piece) Studying that photo might help in some way.

When you are finished can you post what you came up with?

If you are interested and can’t find a copy let me know and I will send it to you.

[squbrigg]

Carving a leaf design on a sideboy frame is a typical English furnature carving practice, and the frame piece would be typically held in a vice and he may be just using the chisel by hand or in company with a mallet. Easier for him to cut himself if he's just using the chisel alone. He'd probably be standing while he worked and may be wearing an apron, leather usually, or a shop coat. The wood would / could be Mahogany, Oak, or Walnut, for furnature. The attached photo from the English "Wood Carving" magazine May/June 2006 No.90 , page 8, of a carver Patrick Damiaens, in Belgium, at work.

Bob

[wade clark]

Being English he might be using an English brand of gouge, an Ashley Iles, maybe a razor sharp style 28 Spoon Front Bent Gouge with a 7 sweep, sweet tool with a 3/4" cut. His 18 oz. arbor vitae mallet is just right, but provides a little too much power if you're not careful, especially with the gouge so freshly honed to that beautiful razor edge. Last thing you need is this Fellow talking to you when you're late on a deadline!
Wade

p.s. Do a search for "Chris Pye", a great English carver with an educational website. He's good about responding to emails too. He loves teaching all most as much as carving, I think...hope to take a class from him at some point!

Hope some of this helps!

[slivers&dust]

I was wrong the cover shot was FW 2004-2005 shops addition. The Oct. 2006 issue had the article...
anyway here are some pic's

[Janet]

Tony, thank you so much for posting those picture. exactly what I needed. Thanks also, Thor, Wade, Bob and John for all that great info. LOL! on Lynn and Ashby's contribution.