Okay, you have a carving shaped up pretty good and you are ready to make some detail cuts; (which you should draw on with a pencil first.)

Instead of cutting straight in at the line, make your stop cut at a slight angle. Â*Slanting away from the highest side of the cut.
It will look much cleaner and will not require more cuts to clean it up later.
Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* ______ Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â*______
Like this Â*/ Â* Â* Â*Instead of this Â*l

I think you will like the results.

[stevefrfla]

Rick: Sounds good, I gotta try that. Both ideas will help.

[Colin_Partridge]

Thanks Rick,
I am laid up right now and I am doing a pile of bark carvings I will give it a try and let you know how it worked for me. I love this message board everyone is great about sharing ideas.
Colin

'Ol Don' has an article in each of the new 'carving' magazines and among the things he does, it appears he uses 90% gouges and v tools? I haven't had a chance to go back and read the articles but plan to...I on the other hand use 95% knives, is that my problem? Do you folks use more gouges and v tools than your knives?

Depends on what I'm carving and what kind of wood I'm using. I just kind of flail around until I find what works best.

I love getting lessons right here online!!! But, hmmm, Rick, shouldn't my stop cut be more like __
_________\
so I can get the undercut and stop cut at once?

As for tools, most of my carvings are done with gouges and v-tools (mostly #3, #5 and 70 degree) - knives for laying down stop cuts and clean-up work. I've learned, though, that everyone tends to float to whatever feels 'right' to them.

Teri

Teri, this is what I am recommending:


Surface to keep Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Wood to be removed
___________________-------------------------
Â* Â* Â* Â* Stop cut ----- Â*\_____________________
Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â*Finished carving surface

__________________________________________
Other side of carving



As opposed to:

Surface to keep Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Wood to be removed
___________________-------------------------
Â* Â* Â* Â* Â*Stop cut------ l_____________________
Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â* Â*Finished carving surface

__________________________________________
Other side of carving




If that doesn't work try this:

. . . .
. . . .
x . x . x . x . x
. . . .
o o o o o
*
*
*
O
(Punt)

Yup, yup...I see that....I'm just saying why not take the slant in the opposite direction, so that the cut actually goes through and UNDER the raised section to be left....then just take away the wood up to it. Then you have a stop cut which is also the beginning of the undercut (which gives better dimension/shadowing to the piece).

LOL...then again, I could just shut up and learn.....I've always been the troublemaker :-)

Teri

Teri,
You are by far one of the best painters I know, that is where this undercut idea comes from.
For more advanced carvers who paint their work, Teri is correct. To create a difined stop for the paint/brush, an undercut is great. In fact Teri, I teach that concept in my painting classes.

But, (and yes, that is a big but) for a beginner to achieve a clean finished cut, this is probably the best method.

The point I am really trying to make is, when a stop cut is made perpendicular to the wood surface, you often end up with a ragged looking cut. Where a slanted cut gives you a clean looking third surface or reflection.

So after saying all that, what I really said was, Yup.

Yup? Yup vas iz los Yup? lol