Keeping Left Right Symmetry

[Robson Valley]

Many of my carvings are stylized animals which are meant to have the left/right symmetry common to totem poles and masks from the Pacific Northwest. Things such as Ravens, Frogs and Owls. I do my very best to align the drawings on the left and right sides. Then I rough cut to the best of my ability on my little Ryobi 8" band saw. I drill 1/8" pilot/index holes right through the rough (in wastewood corners) to keep the symmetry easy to find. All kinds of measuring and marking tools, depth gauge and so on. So far so good.
However, by the time I get to details and cleaning out grooves, the piece is lop-sided. The more I try to correct, sometimes the worse it looks. By the time I get it right, there won't be anything left but a pile on the floor.

Am I going too fast? More looking and less carving?

[mobjack68]

my thought would be...if you have trouble with symmetry, go to a practice plan and practice symmetry. I will assume you are working "in the round"?? do some symmetry practice flat for awhile. My guess...if you are right handed...right side looks great, left side suffers....practice flat.....consider teaching your non-dominant hand to carve??

[Inadv]

Robson,

You might try standing back from your work just a bit more frequently to assess your symmetry. Another thing you could do if you have a digital camera is to take pictures from a straight on frontal and similar rear angle along the way during the roughout process. and then checking the photos for left/right balance.

This all sounds too simple but such observations keep me from getting seriously "whoppyjawed" (most of the time).

L.P.

[Robson Valley]

Thanks for the advice. My very first real carving was a relief in basswood, done in a workshop/class taught by Stuart Antonenko, who is known for relief portraits, among other carvings. He's so busy now, he won't even stop to pick up the phone.

At the end of the day, I have decided that relief carving doesn't hold my interest like carving in the round. I prefer to write, draw & paint (w/c & acrylics) with my left hand but I can switch if I need to. For everything else, like gouge & mallet, I'm close to ambidextrous and that appears to be an advantage.

Imagine a stylized Raven. Smallish body with coarse feathers, very large round head and very large beak, the feet are just a lump as in my world, you don't often see a Raven's feet. The blank is a 2" x 6" x 16"
slab of western red cedar. Transfer a drawing to one side. Then drill half a dozen index holes through to the other side. Position the reverse drawing, transfer, and move on to the band saw.
Near the time which I thought might be the end, the lower curve & slope on one side of the beak was swollen. . . . like a tooth had been pulled! Flipping the carving L/R, I mark the "fat spots" with a green pencil crayon, then carve off the color and look again.

Is that what everybody has to do? This self-taught thing leaves a lot of gaps.

[Inadv]

Robson,

Perhaps I misunderstood what you are doing altogether, and I'm not sure at all that I understand it now after your further explaining it. Is it possible to put a few photos in here? It may be just me (wouldn't be much surprised if it is). Could this have something to do with the blade alignment on your bandsaw?

I have used your "marking the fat spots" technique myself when something just looks too full by comparison to the whole. but I can only get that impression from stepping back and taking long looks at the whole piece and walking around it several times to be sure it isn't illusion (delusion) since after a time I tend to get a bit cross-eyed from looking at something up close.

Wish I could be more help to you, but perhaps some will jump in here with a bit more insight.

L.P.

[Claude]

When you are checking for symmetry, try looking down on the head, hold it so you can look at the feet, etc. Often, I find, this shows me where something is "off" better than rotating it side to side...

Claude

[Robson Valley]

inadv: ". . . . .when something just looks too full by comparison to the whole."
Or to the other side/half. Precisely. Standing back, walking around it. . . . . .
As a novice, if even that, yet, I know what I want to see at the end but perhaps in my enthusiasm, I need to stop more often and assess the symmetry.
Claude: thanks for the suggestion on how to do that. That's a point-of-view that I wouldn't have thought of.

These are good tips to monitor the progress. Not something to find in a book.

I have a 4-figure x24" totem pole, carved and painted in MidCoast style, with exquisite symmetry, not a saw mark or a tool mark to be seen. Eagle/salmon/raven/bear (top down). I study the pole, trying to figure out how it was done. My father bought it in the mid 1950's. "Learning By Designing" (Gilbert & Clark) is an excellent analysis of the quite rigid design rules, region by region. I admire their work, I'm inspired by it but I need the book to make certain that I'm not copying their design elements..

I think that the bandsaw is OK. That little Ryobi is notoriously sensitive to wandering with a dull blade. . . . I've got that part figured out = never have less than 2 spares.

[Claude]

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

...
I think that the bandsaw is OK. That little Ryobi is notoriously sensitive to wandering with a dull blade. . . . I've got that part figured out = never have less than 2 spares.

You might consider a Timberwolf blade from Suffolk Machinery for your next blade. I have a 9" Craftsman that didn't cut worth a darn using the Craftsman blades. When I put a 3/16" x 4TPI skiptooth Timberwolf on it, it suddenly cut straight lines with no problem, could turn a curve without bowing, etc. That's all I use now.

Claude