[C. McCoy]

Returned to carving and have attempted a couple of small stuff. I have been quite surprised that most of my abilities came back. I have had no problem with most things BUT it seems producing a good stop cut has posed a problem.

I try to score the line "straight" down or at a 90 deg angle then cut towards this score line. Hope I made sense here.

I'm a little embarassed to post this because I know this is a basic cut. But until I get a chance to go to a class I will need to resurect my skills by this forum.

Any help would be appreciated.

The pic below shows how my stop cuts seem to turn out ...

[BobD]

That's actually a common problem (and nothing to be ashamed of).

Barry McKenzie, a chip carver, talks a lot about applied pressure...ie: learning how to apply just the right amount of pressure. That is the key to stop cuts. Applying enough pressure to make a deep enough cut, and then applying enough pressure when you cut up to the stop cut that you don't cut too deep.

While you relearn how much to cut, I suggest you make V-shaped stop cuts. Consciously angle your knife away from the area you want to keep when making a stop cut. I'll sometimes use a V-tool or a small, deep U-gouge to make stop cuts if I find I'm overshooting too much.

Hope this helps.

Bob Duncan
Technical Editor

[mark yundt]

Glad to hear your back to carving. As Bob says try clearing out some of the waste wood first up to but not on the line you intend to follow. Then you can better shear off the wood to that line and keep the vertical section clean.
Eventually you can drive in a chisel,make the clearing cut and keep working down to the depth you need without having to remove waste wood first. Just be careful not to try and remove too much wood at one shot. Also depending on the wood you might be limited to how deep you can go in one pass like this.

Another thing you might try is not to make the stop cut perfectly vertical. Angle the chisel so the bottom of the cut will be more towards the waste side. Remove the waste and then go back and shear the sides smooth. Too much wood is difficult to control a plunging cut into. It also might depend on what side you are placing the bevel of the chisel. This can lead to drifting of the plunge cut,,or cause it to want to curve as you're trying to make a straight in cut forcing you off line or inadvertently making an undercut.This happens especially if you are using a flat chisel with a pronounced bevel to it.

And as Bob said as well,,don't ever feel bad asking what you think is a simple question. If you have the question,,I'm sure there are many others out there who have the same question. Besides,,,now you have some information to work with and get you further along with your carving. I've been doing this for a while,,and man,,,I STILL keep coming up with questions.Join the crowd,,it's the nature of the beast.

If you still have a problem with this I'll post some step by steps if you need them. There are a number of ways around this. And,,,I am assuming you are using chisels..though the same principles would apply to knife work as well.

[C. McCoy]

Thanks for the info and helpful tips.

Mark Yundt - At the moment I using a knife (which I purchased from Rick at Little Shavers) to do my stop cuts. I strop before I start carving and while I carve to keep it sharp. So I know I'm dealing with a dull knife.

I'm about to purchase some more tools from Rick so maybe I'll get a chisel to try out.

Any step by step would be appreciated. Thanks.

[mark yundt]

I'll be happy to C McCoy,,,but I won't be much help I'm afraid since I'm not a knife carver. I'll post some how to's using a chisel as I've described as I'm sure someone out there might find it interesting and helpful. But considering the amount of knife work being done here,,I'm sure someone will fill in my shortcomings with some of their own examples.

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

All I can add is to keep trying. You'll get it. Not to say you won't boo boo on occasion. I think we all do that from time to time.

[ElWoodTroll]

Good question! Glad someone else asked it. I've been carving for a little while now and I still can't make a decent stop cut. And chip carving... forget about it. I will never get the hang of it!