[Marci MN]

I could use some help on understanding a few things.

1. When making a deep cut with a knife, and then coming back to round the wood off , how do you get it clean down in those crevices? For intance, the groove between nose and cheek... a deep crevice. I end up with a thin line of wood down in the crevice because I didnt catch it with my knife when rounding off down into that original cut.

2. I'm not sure on wich tool I used, but it looks like a flat U shape gouge. I did a deep cut with my knife and then used this U gouge to clean wood up to the cut. I cannot get my knife cut deep enough to when I come up with the gouge that the chip comes out clean. So here I have a few curlys sitting there up against my knife cut. I used my thumb to pull them away...but now I have a mess up against my knife cut. I did try to come back with my knife to cut down to clean up those ( I have no idea on what to call those) ridges? and have a clean cut there. I'm not having much luck. Its all rough in there.

3. And I also played with what I think is called a veiner? A sharp V tool? Anyway.. I pushed it twards a nose and I have this nice long curl.. but its still attatched. I tried to use my knife to cut that curl off , but then I end up with a knife cut on both sides of the curl. Is there a trick to using this tool when you get to the end of your cut?

I suppose these are all dummy questions..but I'm just not understanding the clean cuts thing...

[Pete Rieger]

Marci,I sympathize with you. The best piece of advice I can pass on was from a book by Jeff Phares on carving faces, he said to widen out your cuts. It's much easier to clean up a wide cut than a narrow one. Also I use an xacto knife, very thin and razor sharp to clean those up.Go with the grain.Alittle folded piece of sandpaper ,say 120 grit works for me too sometimes. A study of chip carving techniques might help , those techniques are all about clean cuts. Good luck.

[Mitchell]

I can't quite picture what you are trying to explain, but what Pete has offered is sound advice.

The veiner is generally a small #11 and is basically a deep rounded gouge. The v-tool is similar, but has a sharper angle at the apex. When using them, to prevent digging into the wood - as it sounds in your post, you need to start at the other end and work away from the deep part of the cut (if possible).

Another possible solution to cleaner cuts when using a knife is to be effective in making stop cuts. Make the stop cut first and then cut to it from different angles. Again, as Pete mentioned, it's easier to do if you have wider cuts.

[Marci MN]

Thank you, I will look up Jeff Phares books.

I did use a one sided razor blade to try to clean up.. that seemed to work better since I could get that corner of the blade down in there with some control.

I'm sorry I'm so new that I cannot put a name to some of the tools as of yet. Ask me a year from now and I'll laugh at my ignorance of today. *grin*

[rick-in-seattle]

There is more than one way to skin a cat (I like to start at the tail).

To make a deep V, you could use a 27-30 degree V-tool or a knife.
Sometimes the cut will look just as good using a small veiner or #11.

The problem with the tool not freeing the chip is a result of not watching grain direction. If your tool is sharp and bent enough, you might get away with it.

Using the knife in the situation you describe, there is one simple solution
(If it is not for a judged Show).

Imagine cutting into a watermelon; if you make several cuts to remove one wedge, it becomes a real mess.
It would be difficult to make two cuts that intersect perfectly at the center of the melon with your eyes closed; but that is basically what is happening on your carving.

The solution is to cut the melon in half and then make a single cut to remove the wedge.
Okay, I don't want you to cut your carving in half.

But we can accomplish the same result by making the first cut slightly deeper than required (just slightly); then make a single cut to intersect near the bottom of that cut.
I said near, not intersecting precisely at the bottom of the first cut.
This works best with a very sharp and thin detail knife.

This is also best used on deep V's where the intersecting cuts will not be highly visible.

[Donna_T]

Marci,

I can sympathize because I have trouble making clean cuts, too. I avoid using a v-tool as much as possible mostly because I have trouble sharpening a v-tool as Rick can attest.

I have much better luck using a gouge or deep veiner (u-gouge with deep sides.) The nice thing about veiners is that you don't have to dig in to the entire depth of the tool, you can go more or less shallow. (and I can sharpen my one veiners and gouges.) What I like about them, as opposed to a knife or v-tool, is that they don't leave a hard, sharp line that is hard to blend out or correct. I especially like using different sized veiners around noses and eyes and even mouths.

I don't know about you, but when I'm roughing out a carving with a face, I draw it on first (with a pencil) and even though I exaggerate the dimensions so that I have entra wood to work with and refine, I keep redrawing details until I get it worked up like I want it. Otherwise, you can end up with a wicked thin, long nose--or practically no nose, etc.

The secret is to practice, using different tools, til you find one that works really well for you.

Donna T

[Claude]

Originally Posted by Donna_T

Marci,

I can sympathize because I have trouble making clean cuts, too. I avoid using a v-tool as much as possible mostly because I have trouble sharpening a v-tool as Rick can attest.
...

Donna:
I had a lot of trouble stropping (honing) my V-tools using the leather-glued-to-the-board that I use for my knives. I finally just took a small piece of flat and smooth basswood, rubbed the honing compound on it, and use the wood to hone the outside of the V-tool. 3 or four passes, being careful to keep the side flat to the wood, and the outside is done. I make another 2 or 3 passes on the Flexcut honing block for the inside of the V-tool, and it's finished. This works equally well on my 1/4 inch V, as well as my 1.5mm micro-V tool.

Claude