[miket]

when doing the stop or vertical cuts on a relief carving,how do you avoid the jagged or rough vertical edge on the carving? i have done several reliefs of 3/8 "-1/2 " deep and as careful as i try, i always come up with that jagged edge that i have to sand to get smooth. yet i look in my reference books and it appears in the photos that these guys always have a smooth edge. it looks like when i do the setting in cut,the rounded upper edge of the gouge must bite into the vertical edge of the wood, leaving this marked up jagged edge. any suggestions ?

[mdallensr]

The first, usual answer is to make sure your tools are sharp. If you compress the wood fibers when you start a stop cut, you'll fight the fuzzies and jagged edge. The next thing to try is to move your gouge in a slicing motion as you push it into the wood. Roll your gouges a bit as you push and you'll see a big difference. With shallow gouges, #2-#5, try to start a vertical stop cut with one corner of the gouge, then rock (only side-to-side) the gouge a bit as you push, to get a slicing motion. That doesn't work so well with deep gouges, and you don't want to turn the slicing motion into a prying motion.

If you're making a series of vertical stop cuts to set the edge of a relief carving with conventional gouges, you'll note the bevel seems to be on the wrong side of the gouge. The chip you make comes off of the inside of the gouge, but the main bevel is on the side where you're leaving the wood. As you force the gouge into the wood, the compression occurs in the wood you're leaving, not the wood you're removing. There are gouges called "in cannel" that have the main bevel on the concave (inside) of the tool. When you set the edge of a relief carving with an in cannel gouge, the chip comes off the bevel and the gouge goes straight down without being forced sideways by the bevel. If you can find someone with one of those in cannel gouges (in a club?), you could try it and see the difference. Mike

[mark yundt]

One other thing to consider.A cut that deep in one pass is alot to ask for a chisel.Shoving any piece of metal into the wood that far is asking it to act more like a splitting wedge than a chisel,leaving split and frayed fibers.If you work gradually to the depth you want, you 'll have less chance of leaving rough cuts.By doing this you have gained clearance for the chisel (by getting the waste wood out of the way first) giving the chisel more room to cut cleanly without forcing it off track.Then you can "shear" the wall of the cut as a stop cut then sever the shaving off cleanly.Also, and maybe I do it wrong,but I'll start maybe a 1/16" away from the cut I want to work up to and start the stop cut here. As was said,the bevel forces the chisel to move away from the bevel side.This way I can use the chisel/gouge in either direction without fear of ruining the line or compressing and tearing fibers.This is what is done when roughing out a piece. it's the final passes to bring the carving up to the lines that makes them clean,using a shearing pass, and then very little cleanup is necessary.
One more thought to consider. Make the stop cut not so much verticle as you might want it to end up as. Have it instead bevel outwards slightly.This will accomplish 2 things. One, it will leave you clearance (no waste wood) to shear the carving "wall" back to verticle. or even undercut if desired.And 2, the small stop cut marks left will be easier to clean up. This is why it is necessary to only take smaller cuts, or use the mallet softly to sink those stop cuts. If you wail away at the chisel with the mallet, you'll end up with lines you 'll have a hard time getting rid of. The piece should end up with no stop cut lines ( even at the base of the "wall") nor anywhere else on the carving,,it'll end up clean, free of fuzzies and torn fibers. Hope this helps.

[Ashbys]

Well there is one thing I would also suggest. Never underestimate the advantage of using undercuts. I assume your speaking of the layer cuts as you work your way down into the carving. Marks information is great give yourself extra material to trim, also , use undercuts to lessen the ammount of wall you have to deal with. the smaller the wall area the eaiser it is to trim clean.

The other options are , sanding , or using a grinder to clean the splinters. Also there is the torch method for fine shavings , a light pass of a torch will clear many of the fine splinters typical to Basswood .

You can also use hairspray to stiffen the fiber slightly to clean it eaiser as they will typically break faster.

[mark yundt]

Miket,,in another post titled "several posts in one" on the last posts, I included some close up shots of an eyebrow area which was all cut in end grain.(I tried posting them here,but it wouldn't let me) For these cuts, I first had to clearance all the wood a bit deeper than 1".Once the waste was out of the way,I was then able to shear off the verticle wall (eyebrow area, down to the eyelid) in clean cuts,BUT!! this was done in MANY passes , first to get out the waste wood,,and then many more to clean the verticle "brow" area.I did this by staying fairly far away from my original line,,then paring it back to the finished shape.

[Thomp]

that what i was going to suggest mark,

simply put dont hold the line on the stop cut, leave a little buffer of waste wood foe slips and splinters, then when finished removing the depth go back and clean up your stopcut to the line or whatever correction,

i find this leaves a more crisp and defigning stop cut,

[Learning2CarveDaily]

Staying away from your original line is the method I use also. The first carving I completed wasn't that bad but the sides were jagged as heck, little gouge marks everywhere. The next carving I did, I did the stop cut about 1/8'' outside my pattern. After I get my deapth right, I use a straight chisel to get the correct angle and a clean cut., or a bench knive to do undercuts. *Have only completed 2 carvings, tossed 2, and am currently working on 4 different ones, to give me some variety =P.