Just What Is Flat-Plane Woodcarving?

[Lynn O. Doughty]

This will probably start a big argument here but thats okay.....we havent' had one in a while. And no.....my comments are not aimed at any one or any group in particular. They are just my thoughts on the matter.

I seem to be seeing more and more posts about the "Flat-Plane" woodcarving technique. To me it's gotten to the point that anything carved with a knive that doesn't have rounded edges is considered Flat-Plane. Well, if that's the case then I guess I've been carving in this style ever since I started slicing chips off of basswood with Old Reliable. Here is the Wikipedia definition of Flat-Plane carving:

The Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving is a style of figure carving. The figures are carved in large flat planes, created primarily using a carving knife. Tool marks are left in the carving and very little (if any) rounding or sanding is done.

Well, I think my style of carving fits that description pretty well so does that make me a flat plane carver? Can I now start entering my work into the Flat-Plane categories? I hope not! I have no desire to be labeled a Flat Plane carver. To me a true Flat Plane carver carves in the style of Harley Refsal or Bruce Futterel which truely reflects the Scandanavian style of character. On the other hand there flat plane carvers who I think produce pieces that could be finished in a more conventional way but have stopped the process at a point so they can claim flat plane status.

Anyway, I like this style of carving provided it's done in the style of it's original description and I'd be interested in what others think about it.

[tnartist05]

Hummm~ All I know about flat plane carving one thing for sure,its all carved from one piece of wood not like alot of carvings now days where carvers adds arms,feet or boots,chop off heads and alway add hats plus alot of pops in the back ground as tin,rope and other items as leather,metal washers,glues & resins,gold leaves,etc that are not wood.I cant carve in the flat plane style for I try to round off any square areas,course I dont use anything but wood in my carvings either.

Old time whittlers hand carved most everything with pocket knives,whittling is the act of carving wood,making shavings is not a carver but only a person skining pieces of wood off a stick as the stripes fall off. You also stated you only carve with a knive{box cutter is a type of knive} and then you must be a flat plane carver,but on your blogs you use sanders,burners and other items to create and finish your carvings.

Think flat plane with the correct cuts they arient even sanded maybe a light wash painting is about all. I just dont think Lynn you are a flat plane carver but the best one I know is Gene,I drank some coffee with him one time and people stopped eating to just come and watch him plus alot of them wanted to buy his little neat flat plane carvings right then. All done with a knive and a block of wood.

Just my thoughts Lynn.

Forrest

[MackTheKnife]

Oh, goody! I love a good argument!

Forrest covered it pretty well, Lynn. The Wikipedia definition is all right as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough. Like Forrest said, once the basic form is sawn out, the rest of the work is done with a knife and maybe a small gouge or v-tool. Plus, the carving, hat, accessories and all are from one piece of wood. The carving rather than being rounded smooth, is left with numerous facets to catch the light and cast shadows. All that is fairly cut and dried.

Now is where we get into the good stuff. Scandinavian Flat Plane Carving is a STYLE, like Impressionism or Cubism, made famous by Scandinavians during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Being Scandinavians they carved what they knew, primarily life on the farm and village and the great exodus.

The key word in that paragraph is STYLE. Styles are not static. They evolve and change. Flat plane carving has virtually died out in Scandinavia, and it is being taken up by people in other parts of the world who carve what they know. Why should those of us who practice Flat Plane Carving restrict ourselves to scenes over a century old if we don't want to. Scandinavian Flat Plane Carving has become Flat Plane Carving. Among the modern living masters of Flat Plane Carving are the two gentlemen you mentioned, Mike Shipley, Mike Bloomquist and our own Hyung and Gene.

You have to keep in mind that a flat plane carving is not unfinished. Each of those facets was planned and done with care. IMHO a clean cut has a better finish than any sanded surface. Could the carver have gone further and rounded everything off and sanded it smooth (shudder)? Sure, but then it wouldn't be flat plane anymore. Lots of people like the look of flat plane. If that's what you like, why take it any further?

Not to worry, Lynn. You'll never be labeled a flat plane carver, 'cause you ain't one. You are a highly skilled artist who carves caricatures.

Bob

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Well I hate to pop your bubble about attachments when doing flat plane carvings but I've seen all kinds of attachments associated with this style. As for all that other stuff you pointed out that some of us like to attach the reason we do that is that we like to. I look on my work as sculpture more than woodcarving. The carving part is just a method I use to get to the end result of what I'm after. Wood is just the medium I work in. If someone thinks thats cutting corners that's fine with me. I'm no longer satisfied carving figures with their hands in their pockets.

Now to get back to what constitutes a flat plane carving .... The few posts already posted on this thread show that besides a knife, which to me should be the only tool allowed, other tools, i.e., gouges, v-tools, have entered the picture. I've done some searches of past Flat Plane carvers to see the type of figures they produced and note that whatever they used was pretty basic, probably limited to a knife. Now if we accept the arguments already posted here that over time things change and new methods are adopted then when do these things and new methods change so much that the original style begins to be lost. This is the point that I think is important and should be addressed. You might say the same thing about relief carving. To me relief carving is a carving that grows out from the background. However, I've see socalled relief carvings where the background is completely removed to the point that the carving is totally in the round and only the still attached outer frame of the piece qualifies it as a "relief" carving. Do you see what I mean? When has something changed to the point that it's no longer what it's supposed to be?

[scooter]

Yes Lynn, as you said, your carvings do meet the Flat Plane Criteria, but by no means would I call them flat plane. In this discussion, I would venture to say that FP falls under the "you'll know it when you see it" umbrella.

Art can be very nebulous sometimes...

S~

[RUssL.]

L.O.D..

You ask:
" Just What Is Flat-Plane Woodcarving?"

You Answer:
"To me a true Flat Plane carver carves in the style of Harley Refsal or Bruce Futterel which truely reflects the Scandanavian style of character."

That cracks me up. I know everybody talks to themselves, but I had never seen anybody typing to themselves! :-)

Game over. Move on folks. Nothing here to see...

Russ L.

[MackTheKnife]

Actually, Lynn, I agree with you. From a strict-constructionist point of view there should be just a single piece of wood and only a knife should be used to do flat-plane. That is the only tool I use when I do flat plane. I even rough out my carvings using only a knife. I don't even use a hand saw except to cut a piece to length. Some might call me a purist, but I'm not. I'm a minimalist. I choose to use the minimum amount of tools I can to produce a carving, flat-plane or not. But, am I going to tell Gene or Mike Bloomquist that they aren't flat-planers because they have brought other tools into play to make the carving quicker or easier? Not likely! The style has evolved.

Now the interesting question here is the one you posed: "when do these things and new methods change so much that the original style begins to be lost"? I'm not sure I have an answer for that. In my opinion, art has more to do with the end product than with the tools used to produce it. As long as the techniques used to produce a carving bear more than a passing resemblance to the techniques used by Janel, the Tryggs and the others, I'd call it flat plane. As the facets increase in number and decrease in size moving toward smooth and round, perhaps somewhere there is the departure point.

Bob

[jillsy]

Lynn,

I just wanted to tell you how much I looooove your site! Someone suggested I check out your blog, which then lead to your website. It's truly amazing the work you do.

For those who haven't seen it, give yourself a treat and check out Lynn's site!

[gene-messer]

Lynn .. You wont make anybody mad .. I have been ask this question hundreds of times ..

Harley Refsal is the foremost authority on flat plane carving .. he is a expert on the subject and he list some of the best flat plane carvers of the times..

Flat Plane is a style of carving that produces large flat planes in the carving used primarly with a knife and perhaps just a gouge or two .. smooth sanding and rounding are usually not used in the finished piece ..

Now the question is .. is all flat plane carvings suppose to look the same ...
well lets see what Harley says ..

He list some of the best ever to do flat plane

Axel Petersson Doderhultarn.. his carvings are very crude looking but brillant in nature for the time ...

C.O. Trygg .. looks nothing like Axels carvings .. but still done in the style of using mostly a knife ,, more finished then Axels ..

Emil Janel .. did most all his figures with gouges .. not with a knife .. but have that brillant flat plane look of them .. his figures look also nothing like Tryggs or Axels .. or Harley Refsal carvings .. but his style was flat plane ..

Seven and Urban Gunnarsson .. Looks alot like Tryggs carvings and Harleys .. but still different in nature ..

Now here goes Lynn .. I know you dont think he is .. but Andy Anderson is considered to have a somewhat flat plane style .. he used a knife and gouges .. but his pieces are rough and the cuts show through .. if you look on the inetrnet .. he is listed under being a flat plane carver ..

Harley Refsal .. one of the best today .. but stll his carvings dont resemble Axels or necessarly Trygg's and surely not Emil Janel ..

But he considers all these men flat plane carvers ..

Now my pick for one of the absolute best with his style is Hyung .. his flat plane is brillant .. but in the style of Korean descent ... thats what makes it so special ..

He is just not copying the original style of flat plane .. he is inventing his own style ..

I will not include myself .. because even though I love the style .. I dont fit in with the masters ..

just go and look at any of these mens style and even though they are all flat plane carvers .. their style is also different ..

Just like your carvings Lynn .. ther are a lot of western carvers .. Chris Hammack , Gene Zest , Yourself , Andy Anderson and others ..

you are all masters at western carving .. but when I walked into Pete Englers shop in Branson Missouri .. there were probably 25 or 30 different western carvings in there .. but when I saw yours .. I knew it was Lynn Doughty's piece .. I could tell by the style and the painting .. its your trademark

The same way with flat plane .. I can reconize amoung a room full of Axels , Tryggs , Emils , Refsals, Hyung and others who they are .. all flat plane carvers .. but the style is still their own ..

In others words .. you just know them

I hope I helped

Gene

[Claude]

Nicely said, Gene! I suspect that someday, should I be lucky enough to live that long, we'll see a lot of carvers saying they are carving in the "Lynn O. Doughty style". ...and that would be a good thing!

Claude