Undercutting for shadow

[rmessick]

What techniques and tools are best used for this. I am working on a 10 inch carving and I really want to undercut the headband of an Indian Headress.

[Donsexton]

A skew or hook skew knife and maby a V tool or if its power try a tapered point burr or flame shape.

[pallin]

A knife for making the stop cut, and a #2 or #3 gouge for the undercut.

[AlArchie]

I don't think there is any "best" way or tool to do your undercuts. As Phil mentioned, a knife followed by a shallow gouge, or the skew. You can also simply use the corner of a shallow gouge for both the back cut and removal of the background material. If you are comfortable with a "v" tool use that, but watch the wing that it doesn't bite the background.

Al

[Robson Valley]

I've used a knife to make progressively deeper and deeper stop cuts. Then, whatever fits in there to remove some wood such as a skew or another knife.
It's the next step that puzzles me greatly = how to avoid leaving knife marks and how to pull the last slivers of waste out of the undercut. This is why I don't get many things finished because I don't know how to do it.

[mdallensr]

For final clean-up, I do a couple of things. One is a natural bristle disc in my Dremel, which cleans out most of the hanging chips. For tougher clean-up, I have some abrasive bristle discs from 3M that will remove debris and do some smoothing. I also use fine riffler files to get into those tight spots. To so some of the undercutting, I use Dockyard dogleg chisels, Pfeil bent skews or their Drake dogleg chisels. Mike

[AlArchie]

Fine or diamond rifflers work really well for final cleanup of those tight undercuts. Thr curved triangular ones are particularly well suited for this.

Al

[pinefeathers]

Don't forget the old woodburner pen for a clean undercut. For some hints and demos of this technique, check Lynn Doughty's site OutWestWoodCarving
He has some excellent videos on carving Indians and cowboys.

[northwood bob]

On the smaller carvings as well as those that have a grain pattern issue, I've used my Detail Master woood burner with a fine knife point. This will get into those places that knives and chisels have difficulties. At this point you will have an accurate stop cut and can pare the excess away.

Bob

[Tom Ellis]

You can do most of that with just a very sharp knife. Do your angled stopcut in under the headdress, and make sure that your stopcut is deep enough so that when you come in with the other paring cut, the two cuts meet, and the little wedge should slide out with no fuzzies left behind. If you have a detail burner, you can go back over these cuts, and clean up any fuzzies left behind, and the burning also makes a nice stop for painting, so colors don't bleed together.

Good luck, tom