chisels vs. gouges

[skip7083]

A really basic question. For someone just getting into relief carving, which is the preferred tool for background work, chisel (straight or skew) or a shallow gouge? Or will I pretty much need both?

Thanks,

Skip

[Robson Valley]

Gouges, maybe a 5F/14 and a 3F/8. If you get lucky, some have "cranked necks" which make a world of difference for shallow cutting.
A double-bevel carver's chisel, 1/8, is useful for stop cuts.
The disadvantage of carpenters' chisels is that they can't cut the left and right edges of a chip without tearing up the wood.
Maybe a 1S/15 skew. I have 7 skews now, from 5mm to 25mm, used mostly for grooves and long sweeping curves. Probably a plan to get both the left and right as a pair. Pfeil doesn't make a 1S/25 (left) skew, just the right.
LV sells an "economical" pair of 1/2" skew chisels, mine took hours to fix up. One had/has a pitted edge!.

[davidinsarasota]

One of the weird reversals in woodcarving is that flat areas are best worked with slightly concave (#2 or #3) gouges, and rounded areas can often be most accurately formed with flat profiles (#1). This rule is most evident in the roughing out stages.

Once established, flat areas can be finished with flat tools if you use a very light touch so that the corners don't dig in. Keep in mind a 'tooled' finish, one with slight, regular, channels and ridges from a gouge can add interest to a boringly flat background. Rounded areas like grapes can be finished with a reversed (upside down) concave profile that matches the circumference of the feature. I use a #7 on grapes.

We do use the word 'chisel' when talking about #1--flat profile carving tool, but there are times, like when you are talking to non-carver's, when you want to be clear that you are not talking about a 'firmer' or carpenter's chisel. A firmer chisel can be used to carve wood in much the same way that a crowbar can be used to screw in a flathead screw or, god forbid, if you dig the corner in just right, a phillips head. A firmer chisel is much thicker than a carving tool, making the geometry all wrong.

[Donsexton]

I don’t do much relief carving now days but I did plenty of it years ago. A chisel will tend to dig in at its corners a shallow gouge wont. A short bent left and right skew will allow you into corners that nothing else will. To relief background nothing works better than a bent macaroni tool. That tool is not modified to for that task it was designed for it by the old masters.

[davidinsarasota]

Fantastic Don!