[wchips]

Hi everyone
I have a dumb question. I have nit been carving very long.as you can see.
How close to the line do you cut when roughing out a blank? I found a pattern of a cowboy I liked . So made a copy of it and glued on the blank with spray adhesive. Took it to the band saw and cut about 1/16'' outside the outer line. After I began carving it seems too close,
Thanks for any help
Have a nice day Lee

[Bigredcarver]

Hey fellow Husker!

When I cut out I just barely leave the line....the line represents the high point so that it just removed by sanding at finish time...

However I never carved Caracatures so can't help with those..

Take care.

[Mitchell]

You should be fine if you cut out a blank outside of the lines.

Most beginners have the "habit" of not taking away enough wood.

The only way to know for sure is to finish the carving.

[Thomp]

Wchips,

Within a carature pattern for rough out there should be plenty of wood left to complete the charter... if the pattern is made well.
only if i modify the pattern like hand/arm position changes do i leave extra wood.
with one exception, the hands,. i have learned to leave a block for the hands, its a little more carving in the end, but intill you know exactly where you want the hands palm up down inside fist or extended hand, i leave enough room for any of the positions,
but of late i have found out many carvers use add on arms leggs hands feet and heads. so they can get the positioning just right.

the pattern represents the outter configns,
although the band -scroll saw can only 2 dementional cuts your knives have to make the rest..

i find it particulary hard to figure out how the cowboy hat is orentated in the big block left over for the head..
but you have to keep the pattern close at hand when carving to use as a map, stop often and pincle in items and shade places where wood needs to be removed..

take it a day at a time,.
your first carving is not suppost to be made in minuets....

even being careful your going to make mistakes, keep the super glue handy, and -or be ready to use your engeniouty to correct your mistakes or to navigate around them if possible.

keep us posted...

[Paul_Guraedy]

Far from being dumb, your question is very important and one that I have not seen asked in this fashion before. Most questions along this line are pretty general.

As has been stated by others, the first decision is to decide where you want to leave plenty of wood. Beginning woodcarvers would probably be better off to stay pretty close to the pattern on the first few carvings. But, it does depend greatly on what you are carving. Caricatures give you a little more leeway on size, especially of hands, feet and facial features. Animals need to be reasonably close to scale.

That being said, 1/16th of an inch seems to be cuttting it pretty close for someone without a fair amount of carving experience. There is little room for error and one gouge cut can take you that deep.

In assisting those new to carving, the most common problem I have encountered is "getting the square out." Look through Chip Chats at novice carvings and you will see pretty quickly that many of them are obviously cut out of a block of wood.

I would recommend trying a couple of carvings where you draw the line on the block, keep the bandsaw about 1/4" outside of the lines, take your knife and carve down close to the lines on the corners and then start carving down to the lines with the features of the carving.

You will do a lot more carving this way; but, then, that's what it's all about isn't it. Keep asking questions. But, remember none of us have the perfect answer. We can tell you what has worked for us. But, you will quickly see that it really is "different strokes for different folks." Use what works for you, what you are comfortable with, and develop your own style.