Newbie here, 1st post...

[MarTay6]

Hi, All-
I'm a newbie carver, just getting my feet wet. I have worked in wood most of my life, but have never felt I had the ability to carve... but wanted to. I successfully did a ball-in-a-cage once, but am attempting a relief carving right now- a fairly simple one, a fairy door I found in a recent magazine- and am getting discouraged. I'm using a piece of Aspen I got from Lowes, and am finding it wants to chip out where I'm working. I feel my tools are sharp enough, I'm using a set of Pfiel carving tools from Woodcraft... they feel sharp, but it seems to me if I'm chipping out, then it must be that the tools still aren't adequately sharp. The cutting surfaces seem to be curved, instead of ground flat- which may be leading to wedging of the wood where there isn't a lot of support.
I don't know if I've given enough info here to allow anyone to give advice... would I be better off working in Basswood for a starter project? Is it less chip-resistant than Aspen?
Thanks so much!
Wes

[Claude]

Welcome to the forum! If you can post a photo of the chipped out area, it might help us identify the problem. Also, which specific Pfiel gouges are you using?

Claude

[AlArchie]

Wes, if you are using those gouges as they came from the supplier, they are probably NOT sharp. Get a strop and some compound and work on the edge. You will be amazed at the difference.

Another thing, you may be ending your cut by lifting the chip out...this will result in chipping and if you are cutting across the grain with anything but a sharp tool it will chip. that aspen from Lowes may also be very dry. Try misting it with a 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and water. some carvers seem to use this sucessfully for dry wood.

Regarding the terms "sharp", "really sharp" and "I think they are sharp".

There is ONLY sharp and varying degrees of dullness.

Al

[MarTay6]

O.K., First of all- thanks so much for such quick responses! This must be a pretty active forum. And I appreciate the offers of advice.
Taking pictures was a great idea- and I'll post what I can here (not being certain how many pic's I can post, since I'm new!) I cropped them down so you can easily see the ugly work... and man, it sure does look ugly up close. I think it's a combination of the wood being dry- it does seem quite dry- and inadequately sharpened tools. I'll let you experts advise- and I'm thick skinned... so don't be afraid to critique- that's what I asked fer'! *grin
Wes

[Riverman]

Hi Wes, welcome to the group!
Bob

[MarTay6]

Man... no comments??? I know the pictures look baaaaad... I do believe part of my problem is a lack of sharpness. The surface, inspecting it closely, looks rounded- convex slightly, which can only add to the wedge effect... will work on that. And more honing.
Wes

[Ashbys]

Hi WeS welcome to the carving fourm.

Lets see if i can help a little. First your tools are sharp. If you look where you ran the gouge at the bottom of the groove the wood cut very clean. That is what you want.

The chipping effect your getting is not from the tools but from the technique. Your taking a heavy cut and driving the gouge deep, resulting in the cutting edge being forced under the edge of the wood. This is causing pressure to to break the wood edge.

The tools are suspose to the round, that produces the form of the cutter. If you look close at the cutt edge you will see it is a very open U or C shape and cut cleanly on the bottom and tore through the wood at the top. The shape helps you cut without tearing the wood.

Lighten up your angle of attack, and think of pealing the skin of the wood. You want smooth consistant pressure and depth , you want to stroke, not cut.

As long as you have wood you can go deeper take a little more time , and do what you did , in 3 cuts instead of one.

Ash

I also moved you to new carveers , it will allow for more help.

[brent]

Lighter cuts, more often until you reach the desired depth/effect. Practice with each tool before trying to carve something with them. When you use a tool, let the tool do what it is designed for. Heavier tools remove more wood. They still can only achieve so much............just like a saw, it can only cut wood so fast, so down and give it time to do its job.

[MarTay6]

Thanks so much for your feedback, folks- I appreciate it. Your advice makes sense, and was very helpful. I'm a very visual learner... so trying to learn on my own is more difficult than it might be for some!
I'll try to put your advice into practice.
Wes

[mobjack68]

Need you to recall some things you learned a long time ago as a new woodworker....and things you don't think about now because it has probably become 2nd nature....

If you are using a table saw to cut a piece of wood, you are probably not thinking about the grain structure inside the wood, unless it is pinching the blade...same with a band saw. Not so with carving. You need to be thinking about the grain with almost every cut. It does become somewhat automatic after a while, but as you have discovered, it will confound a lot of new carvers.

The problem of course is the nature of the grain and it differs with every piece of wood and even within some pieces (burl, knots) grain can go haywire.

I have included a pic, and what I see happening with your carving, I have tried to illustrate.
Start w/ the "U" cut....Cut 1, if you are cutting at an angle to the grain, you need to cut, what I call "downhill"....if you try to cut "uphill" (opposite the direction of 1 or 2) your tool will dig into the grain and cause splits and tears. You would need to make you initial cut with a smaller tool, using the same tool or slightly larger, cut in the direction shown by 1, make a couple of cuts in that direction, then cut in the direction of 2, make a couple of cuts, then go to a larger tool, same process to get to the width and depth you desire. When cutting across the grain, don't try to use the exact size tool for the exact cut you need....removal needs to be done in layers...AND, don't try to "run" the cut....as in don't think that it will work all the time to put the tool where you wish to start, drive it down to the level you desire and push to clear the whole cut with one push......baby bites ( at least until you get comfortable with the tools and what the wood will do/won't do.)



Sorry this is so long, maybe I should have done a video??

Most newbies get really frustrated trying to make "one cut"....take baby bites, carving should be relaxing and enjoyable. If you have a white knuckle grip on the tool and you are leaning your whole frame into the cut...it's not only drudgery..it is also dangerous, sharp tools with off balance carvers or too much push can leave ketchup stains that Tide won't touch....not to mention loss of carving time, fishing time, gardening time, etc..etc

back to the pic....same kind of thing with the "V" cut, start small-ish cuts and then enlarge, again cutting downhill, even though the cut is not severely angled across the grain, you are cutting "into" the grain (there's that 3rd dimension that you don't worry about when using the saw....) you need to be conscious of what the grain is doing as you cut deeper into it. Cut in the direction of 3 a couple of bites and then direction 4 to enlarge. cutting "downhill" either direction....cutting deeper will only accentuate the need for cutting downhill......Cutting uphill will cause splits and tearout and aggravation....

Next week...cutting curves and circles (cutting uphill and downhill at the same time!!)

No magic formula for what needs to happen, try to be "one with the wood, Grasshopper" let the tool do the work, small bites. If it starts doing something you don't want...back off, analyze, get after it again.....let us know how it's going???

there are videos out there...google them. If there is something you need but cannot find, let us know. We can shoot our own video..