Rough-outs

[WhiteShaman]

Thanks Dave!

[pallin]

There are no roughouts for what I carve, but I do use my bandsaw or other power tools to prepare the carving blanks.

[WhiteShaman]

Thanks Phil...........I was just looking at your gallery and your work is awesome.
I especially like your "ball in cage" designs.
Most I have seen are too ordinary and end up looking like a practice piece, but yours look like they can be displayed!
I could see getting into doing one like the ones you did.
Blessings,
James

[sbirkes]

Been using a band saw for years for various projects. Roughing out included.

[Nancy-G]

I had a super little scroll saw when I started carving so I could cut 2 1/2" or smaller items. Then I bought the 14" Delta band saw.
Having both saws is a delightful luxury.

[WhiteShaman]

Thanks Steve, Nancy!
I have a scroll saw so I think I'll start with that for now.
Nancy..........I love the chipmunk in the pumpkin and the snow men on your link..wow!
I'd like to attempt to copy those snowmen with your permission
Steve.....great website and work from one biker to another. (Actually, I would hardly call myself a biker, but I ride too......2006 Suzuki Boulevard C50.)
Blessings,
James

[Dileon]

I use a band saw cutting two sides then I use a Foredom SR with large Kutzall burrs to round out the form. Or I will use chisels, depending on if my fingers work that day....as you can often chisel out a form just as fast on a small basswood piece as you can blast it with a burr. There are some great DVDs and books on how to do this. I learn a lot by reading and watching videos...as I am stuck at home cause my feet do not work sometimes. smile

[gtech]

I was lucky enough to have a teacher who was teaching how to start from a square piece of wood and use large gouges to take the un-needed wood fast. He was always saying "this has to go... fast".

When I began to learn wood carving, I was using small gouges to do that and it was taking me a lot of time before I could start on the details of the carvings. He changed all that after showing me every time we started a new piece how to take the un-needed wood fast.

What I do now, because I live in a condo, is that I use a hand saw to make some perpendicular cuts each side of the blank first, and then I use a large gouge to make the rough-out.

Harold L. Enlow shows how to do that in a book I have (Caricatures In The Ozark Style).

I also have that book from Elma Watner http://books.google.ca/books?id=azNv...0Enlow&f=false that shows how to use a small copy saw.

Gilles

[arfer1943]

Having spent many hours whacking big chunks of a large (20 x 20 x 30) chunk, I bought some LARGE (3") gouges which speeded things up.

That said, however, the object of carving is to reveal the "Shape inside" the block. How you go about it depends on your time and available equipment.

Bandsaw, chainsaw, Arbortech, all contribute.

[Nancy-G]

Whiteshaman/James ... Sure, I can dig out some snowman patterns (my patterns are a real mess) that you are welcome to.
That pumpkin is just a squashed circle (I think 5 1/2 wide x 5" tall) and I didn't use a pattern. I carved out the hole and glued in the finished chipmunk. I don 't remember a pattern for that. If I knew what size pumpkin you were doing, I could try to draw you one.