Finishing the carving

[Barry Sholder]

I feel I'm getting pretty proficient at the carving part but feel I'm a bit lost when it comes to finishing up. How do you get rid of all the little junk on the carving before staining or painting. I have used a rotary bristle brush but that doesn't seem to make it. Do you really need to sand in the cracks and crevises with sandpaper?

[Mitchell]

Commonly referred to as 'fuzzies'.

If you need to use sandpaper to clean knife cuts, then something else is wrong. You can do it, but in the long run it's best to carve without the 'fuzzies'....

There are some threads on this - like this one -> Needing clean cut help

Part of the trick to carving is learning what you can and can't get away with easily. Some areas are just prone to leaving chips and pieces of wood fiber.

Good deep stop cuts in the right place will make it easier to cut into deep areas and allow chips to pop out cleanly. It takes some practice.

You may want to just practice on scraps - duplicating areas that you are experiencing problems with.

[Mitchell]

More threads:

sanding

Fuzzy dread?....you HAVE to try this...

rough around the edges (and valleys)

[Donna_T]

Barry,
Well, I've been carving for over 20 years and I still need to clean up carvings before painting. When I can, I use a 45degree v-tool to clean up as many cracks and crannies, but sometimes, I need to use sandpaper or a diamond flame tip power bit down in the cracks the v-tool can't reach. I KNOW that if I were a better carver, I wouldn't have fuzzies, but alas, I still do.

When I get a carving all cleaned up, I put 3-4 little white 3M radial bristle discs in a mandrel with a power carver (usually my mini-mite Dremel) and run it on low speed over the entire carving to do further cleaning. Be sure to run it with the flow of the carving (not across it) especially with hair/fur/wrinkles so it can clean out the cracks without modifying your carving texture. A stiff bristle toothbrush (denture brush) can clean up some fuzzies, but not as much as the radial bristles. Briskly rubbing the carving with a wadded up piece of brown paper bag or wrapping paper will also eliminate some fuzzies.

It's a process. Try one thing after another until you find something that works for you.

Donna_T

[BrandantR]

I have to agree with Mitchell that the best way to deal with the "fuzzies" is to avoid them in the first place. Keep your tools sharp and you should be able to keep your carvings clean. If you already have some to deal with, a small little pice of sand paper or some small files can get into the crevases fairly well.

[Eddy-Smiles]

Being more of a whittler than a carver I'm not all that particular about fuzzies although I do try to eliminate as many as possible. I use Donna's method except the 3-M radial bristle disks are a little rich for my blood. I use a couple of pieces of 3-M or Norton extra fine washable/reuseable abrasive on an oversized mandrel.

[Mark Dellinger]

Barry,

I also agree with Mitchell and Brandant. I am self taught for the most part other than some early tips by a neighbor and from what I have learned from the good folks here on WCI, and His words to me were "Put a lot of effort to learning how to carve without having to sand, This is accomplished by keeping the tools sharp". I also try to take the thinest slivers of wood I can with each cut There is that occasional cut or piece of wood where the grain or texture makes this difficult to accomplish, but you should be able to carve without creating the fuzzies. I don't like to sand for two reasons, I'm lazy, but most importantly if you have good clean cuts over the majority of your carving and you sand other parts you change the surface of the wood and it shows up immediately when painting or staining.

Safe Carving and God Bless,

Mark