Chip carving beginner questions

[Pete]

Hello everyone.

I'm just starting out in chip carving and I have a few questions. I bought a kit from Mychipcarving.com, which contained two knives, two ceramic sharpening stones,one of Wayne Barton's books and one of his dvd's, which I found very helpful, and 4 basswood pracice boards.

One question I have is about knife sharpening. What I've done is to use the coarser of the two stones to establish the cutting edge angle. I raise the back of the blade about one blade width off the stone, then sharpen by stroking back and forth until I see a slight burr begin to form on the opposite side, then switch sides and stone until I see the slight burr on the side I began with, then stone the burr off and switch to the fine stone. I give it a few strokes , then switch sides , do the same, until I can't see any marks from the coarse stone on either side, using a 5x Jeweler's loupe.

My questions are, should I also be polishing the flat of the blade sides with the fine stone? I seem to be having some difficulty with plunging cuts, cross grain especially. My practice boards seem fine, but maybe they are too dry? I have a 1x6 basswood board that's about 6 feet long thats layed up in the rafters of my garage for years, and that cuts about the same.

Thanks in advance for any tips you may have.


Pete

[minowevie]

Hi Pete. sounds like you have been doing your home work. on sharpening. the one thing I would think, is maybe just maybe, you are rounding off the end of the blade. it is hard at first to get the shape right. you really wont a clean be vale. no rounding. Evie

[bigEd_H]

Hi Pete,

Welcome to the forum. There is a video on sharpening your Chip carving knives on My Chip Carving (number 108) which is also on youtube. You sound like you are doing it right. I also will strop my knife flat on a leather strop. I use Rich Notto's White Gold stropping/honing compound which gives a super high shine an makes the blade slice through the wood like cutting butter with a hot knife... well maybe not that, but you get the drift.

Ed

[Jodyb]

It sounds like your knife isn't sharp enough. The knife has to be super sharp. I use the white polishing stone every time I sit down to carve and every time I seem to have difficulties cutting. It's amazing what a little practice does also. I very rarely use the gray stone but I use my white stone all the time.
Marty at Mychipcarving.com is very helpful also. If you email him directly he probably would answer quickly.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Originally Posted by bigEd_H

Hi Pete,

Welcome to the forum. There is a video on sharpening your Chip carving knives on My Chip Carving (number 108) which is also on youtube. You sound like you are doing it right. I also will strop my knife flat on a leather strop. I use Rich Notto's White Gold stropping/honing compound which gives a super high shine an makes the blade slice through the wood like cutting butter with a hot knife... well maybe not that, but you get the drift.

Ed

Very good advice !!

Dave

[Stoney1964]

I agree that you shouldnt need to use coarser stone unless you were to drop you knife or something and damage the edge. I dont ever do anything but strop, medium rouge then yellowstone on seperate strop. My main concern in what you said, is the heighth at which you raise the blade off the stone. Keep in down to the thickness of a dime. The whole concept, in my thinking, is to have a blade that is tapered from the back of the blade all the way to the front edge and highly polished and slick.
In time you will figure out what works for you. I can tell you right off the bat, as they say, if you dont have good wood you will fight everything you do. I have done it for 2 years now. Its amazing that I havent quit. Dont let junky wood discourage you from carving. As I said, I chip carved for a long time before I ever carved in a good piece of wood and after I carved in the good stuff, I couldnt believe what I had put myself through that wasnt necessary.
Hope that helps.

[Frank D]

Hi Pete,
What do you mean by...

"then stone the burr off and switch to the fine stone." ?

Frank

[Pete]

Frank, what I meant was, starting with a new knife, I began stoning on what I'll call side 1 until I get a slight burr on what I'll call side 2. I then flip the blade over and stone side 2 until I get a slight burr on side 1. I figure at this point I've established the correct angle of the cutting edge, keeping the back of the blade about one blade thickness off the stone, or about a dime's thickness as was suggested by Stoney. At this point I flip back to side 1, just to lightly stone it to remove the burr, then switch to the fine stone. I'll alternate sides every few strokes to polish the blade, holding the same blade angle.

Now, after I've been carving for a few weeks, I only use the fine white stone.

I haven't tried stropping the blade, as I have no strop, but I may try to make a bench strop. Ed's suggestions about stropping sound good.

I think at this point though, my blade is probably sharp enough, it's just that my technique needs more work. I watched Barton's DVD over and over. He makes it look real easy, but every time I watch it I pick up something, just from watching and studying his hand movements and technique.

I've been practicing borders with triangular chips and straight lines mostly so far, and I tend to undercut, or cut too deep, and at first my chips weren't popping out cleanly, but it was due to me either not holding the knife at the correct angle, or not cutting straight down when starting a chip I think. It's getting easier now, but I still have a long way to go. Practice practice practice.

Thank you all for your advice. Pete

[papasar]

I have been using both Notto and Denny chipcarving knives for the last six or so yrs, and never had to do anything but strop using Yellowstone. I sometimes use a fine ceramic stone because its easier to carry in my pocket.
It takes a bit longer to polish the blade but I get the same results. Maybe its happening but I never see or feel a burr. I do polish the entire blade to help make smooth cuts.
Bill K.

[hemjr]

Just a note on Wayne Barton's sharpening method. I have spent a good bit of time carving with him. I have never seen him use a strop. If the knife is in very bad shape he may use a diamond stone, then the black ceramic, then the white ceramic. He will use the white ceramc when the knife starts to drag or cut poorly.

Howard