grain direction

[sforl]

I'm new to carving and I'm making my first attempt to carve a stylized bird out of butternut. I know I should position my pattern so that the grain is running length wise {head to tail} Should I position the pattern so that I'm carving with the grain flowing head to tail as you would when when hand planing wood or does it matter? If the answer is yes, what is the best way to determine which way the grain is running? Thanks

[Claude]

Having the grain run from beak to tail will give you the most strength. I've seen some carvings where the carving was done with the grain intentionally running the wrong way for the effect.

If you dampen the wood a little, it will make the grain show up clearly - then you can draw a couple of arrows in the grain direction using a pencil.

Claude

[Al_Hillis]

Welcome to the forum sforl ,, if you just take a good look at the wood you should be able to see the lines or rays that should be showing , those are the grain lines, Hope that helps

[Ron T]

Hello and welcome, sforl. It's nice to have you here. You've chosen a nice wood to work with.

[markken5889]

Hi sforl, welcome!

another thing to keep in mind with wood grain, I find particularly important when carving birds or ducks, is watching where the grain "breaks" such as coming over the top of the birds head and back, and around the sides, going front to back. Just as in planing, you'll get a split or tear-out if you carve in the wrong direction in these areas in particular. for example, coming over the top of a bird's head, you carve from the top downward toward the bill, and from the top downward toward the cape as well. Coming around the sides of the bird, carve from the break point, about 1/2 way around toward the front of the bird's breast, and from the break point back towards the tail.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Mark

[sforl]

I finished the carving yesterday. Once I got going and stopped being so tentative it went rather quickly. One down and many, many more to go! Thanks for your warm welcome and advise!