[gene messer]

Since I have received quite a few e-mails and message's concerning people wanting to know the flat plane process ( and believe me , I know there are a lot of of carvers better at it then Ia'm ) .. I decided to just throw it out there and see how many like and do the falt plane work themselves ..

Now Harley Refsal defines flat plane as a style of carving taken from the old scandinavian woodcarvers of long ago .. a style that involves cutting large flat planes in the figure using only basically a knife and only a few gouges .. Which is right .. But to me .. The key to learning flat plane is to learn first the style .. and then slowly create your own style into the figure .. Does that make sense ? ..

Weather a large or small figure .. The style and cut's are the same .. I cant tell you why I like flat plane .. but I think people like Andy Anderson and C.O. Trygg inspired me the most .. I know this is only my opinion .. but I just like the deep cuts to the smooth surface .. And applying this type of carving to small figures is so much fun ... Beside's .. Maybe I'am too cheap to buy a lot of tools .. but Ia'm not retired yet and I work a lot of hours .. so most of my carving is done simply by sitting down and doing it on my lap ..

So flat plane works best for me since I use only a knife and a couple of v- tools to do my work ..

I had a chance to talk to some carvers who do flat plane and They told me it is not the choice of most carvers .... Even though they like the style ...They consider it sort of old fashion and outdated .... So be it ... But I would like to know out there who does alot of flat plane work and like's it's style .. Also , Iam' sure there are alot of carvers out there who knew carvers who have passed are on or are still alive that do alot of flat plane work .. Let me know your thought's ...
P.S. Ia'm enclosing a few photo's of different characters created by use of flat plane

[wood-whittler]

so if you dont sand your carvings and leave the knife cuts there would that be considered flat plane or do the cuts have to be long? just a question, guess i need to go dig out the refsal books and read up on this style. gene i like your style i like the way you leave the cuts.

bart

[mwilleson]

Gene,

Those are great!

I currently do not do flat plane carving. Some people may think flat plane carving is "old fashioned", but to me it is a very elegant style in it's own way. When done properly, flat plane carving shows a lot of character in the carved figure. In my opinion, the fact that is is not as easy as it looks adds to the intrigue of flat plane carving.

Do you have a particular knife you like to use? It seems some of the flat plane carvers like Refsal like the long blade Sloyd knives. How about you? Can you tell us what your favorite tools are?

Good thread. Thanks for your thoughts. I look forward to learning more from you.

[gene messer]

Ia'm sorry .. Ia'm getting ready to work the night shift ..so I dont have much time .. but in answer to your question ..
Bart :
No you can sand your work .. Just dont sand it smooth where the knife cuts dont show .. V cuts are very important to flat plane .. Remember in flat palne . the knife cuts create the look ..

Mike : I use a Ron Wells 1 1/2 blade knife on my smaller figures because the Ron wells knife to me has such a thin blade to it ..

Thanks for the info guy's .. gotta go ..

[Mitchell]

Love your work Gene.

Thanks for posting your method and thoughts. Flat plane is an art in itself and does not get enough "credit" as such.

Sometimes less is better than more.

PS - try to break your posting up a bit with paragraphs....it's a bit tough to read {it may be me (my computer) as my resolution is set so that my letters are small}.

[Shimmy]

Gene,
Your carvings are great. I took a seminar with Harley Refsal years ago.I thought that that was the easiest and fastest way to carve. But after a while I started doing a little bit of everything.(relief ,in the round.& chipcarving.And started rounding out the corners.
So I really mix it up when it comes to my caricature carvings.
Here are the carvings I did with Harley.Also a couple of reliefs.

[Eddy Smiles]

I've done a bunch of carvings and caricatures that were supposed to be flat plane but never came out looking anything like your work. I've got Mike Shipley's two Ozark books which provide some excellent patterns but don't seem to explain the techniques behind the carvings. He goes right from tools to step by step without discussing the theory behind the carving. I guess that he figures that if you're advanced enough to buy the book then you already have the basic techniques down. Does anyone know of a book that gets a little more into the basics of flat plane carving and doesn't jump right into a carving project? .... like where to put cuts and creases and flatter surfaces to accentuate an area.

[Blake Lunsford]

Gene,

As you know I too am a big fan of your carvings. Flat Plane style is definitely something that I am interested in trying in the future.

Thanks for sharing your work with us! It is definitely an inspiration!

Blake

[smurfy]

www.pinewoodforge.com has a package that includes the Harley knife, DVD of Mr. Refsal teaching the flat-plane style and (2) blanks. It was extremely helpful and I was able to turn out a pretty good copy of his Karl Oskar figure...especially for a beginner carver. I'll try to post a photo soon.

Gene, I'm extremely fascinated by your carvings. I recognize the flat-plane style but also know you've credited Pete LeClair's influence, too. What size blanks do you use to begin your carvings? It looks like you use Pete's techniques to block out & carve the figures but skip the fine detail work with the gouges that he recommends. Looks like most of it is done with just one knife...correct?

Any chance we could get a step-by-step tutorial of your next carving?

[Anthony Filetti]

Gene,
great job on the carvings...what makes a flat plane carving knife different from others? is it ground different?