[MrDantastic]

Hey everyone,

I have been working on some chip carving, just trying to get my chips to come out better but I don't seem to be getting anywhere. I am having a hard time getting good curved chips. I have been practicing some borders out of a book I have, but the curved chips aren't coming out good at all.

When I try to carve them, I can't get my knife to move smoothly through the wood while making the slight curve. I thought my tools might not be sharp enough, so I sharpened them to the best of my ability. With a new edge, it was a little easier, but still not as easy as I thought it should be.

I am attempting to use the Wayne Barton chip carving method.

I am also carving in northern basswood.

To sharpen my knife I am using my grey stone, and then a white stone that feels like glass. Followed by stropping.

Have I missed some technique that is required to do these cuts? Or is my blade just not sharp enough. Or should I just find another hobby? (haha...just kidding)

Any comments, suggestions, or opinions would be greatly appreciated!!!

-Dan

[Colin_Partridge]

Dan I dont know how many times I have tried chip carving and I am never able to achieve any results at all just dosent seem to be my thing. So it probably isnt the knife I have some great chip carving knifes and they dont work for me either. I have my own saying, "If at first you dont suceed try something else." Just kidding but everyone has their own forte I know mine is not chip carving although I always look at them in awe.
Colin

[Randy48]

MR Dan, I'm not a chip carver and haven't had a chance to give it a try yet, but at a small carving show I went to last fall (all chip carvers), they were using gouges to chip carve. They used a grid to layout the work area and used a gouge to make the cuts.

The guy putting on the show was Barry McKenzie and most of not all the carvers there had been his students. Visit his website and maybe you can find some helpful information or ask for help http://chipcarvingschool.com/

Hope this is helpful

[Irish]

Hey Dan,

When you say curved chips are you doing a chip triangle or a free form chip line? Are you working basswood, pine, butternut ... ? Do you have a scrap board to practice on, one which you don't mind really messing up?

You do need your chip knife very sharp and you need a very thin blade. When you sharpen it lay the blade against your stones so that you are only about 4 or 5 sheets of paper high off the back side of the knife from the surface. Really lay it over to almost flat.

Relax your hand as much as possible. Often when practicing a new cutting technique we tighten up on the grip. A hard grip can limit the movement of your hand. Keep your hand and wrist off the wood so you have freedom to move.

OK ... the cutting stroke comes from the WHOLE ARM not the hand or wrist. There is very little wrist bending or twisting and no finger turning in making a chip cut. It's all elbow and shoulder work.

Try this for a moment as you are sitting here reading - pick up a pencil as if it were the knife, open your other hand as if it were the board, cross your legs with the dominant leg on top (left handed - left leg up), Put the back of your open hand on the top of the crossed leg. That puts your wood to one side of your body so your cutting hand is not crossing over your stomack area. Now put the pencil onto your open hand palm and just slowly pull the pencil across the palm ... work so that the entire cutting arm moves.

Can you feel that the wrist does not bend or twist ... your elbow should be making a nice movement that is the same as your hand. This is one area of wood carving where I literally say "I need elbow room!"

When you get into that open spaced position and have a thin sharp knife you can make a free form cut that can be many inches long and twists back and forth across the wood.

(Almost done here) ... Don't take too deep a bite into the wood as you are learning, especially for free form cuts. Too deep a cut means you begin to fight the direction ofthe grain as you turn. Make shallow cuts until you get the feel of the free movement of the arm then slowly go deeper.

I also find on a long free form cut that if I make one straight in cut down the center of the free form line first my side cuts become more even. That center cut is not made very deep but it creates just a touch of give room on the inside area of the chip when I cut along the outside area. This can take the long chip out in two pieces, one on each of the long sides.

Hope there is something here that might help. Oh, did you stop by the thread on sharpening? Did it help with what you were asking yesterday?

Susan

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I think your problem maybe two fold, one taking too deep a cut and or.....lift the handle when you are making a curve so that the blade is almost straight up and down, you have less metal in the wood at the time and makes the curve go easier and cleaner.......read and re-read Wayne Bartons book!! LOL easy to miss things...and not a big book, devour it, he is a champion.....and if you get a chance to pick up Dennis Moor's book...he is a champion in Canada as a chip carver...both are great people!

[MrDantastic]

After reading all of your comments, I think my main problem is digging in too deep to the wood. I was/am having the problem of the knife following the grain and not my direction. I will have to try some shallower lines until I get the hang of it.

I was trying to do triangles, and crescent shaped chips.

Susan - I did get the sharpening figured out, after reading everything available on this site and throughout the internet, it makes me realize how bad I am at sharpening now, and how much worse I was before, hahaha. With practice though, I am sure it will improve. Also, I tried positioning you were talking about in front of my computer, and as soon as I can, I will try it on my practice board. Hopefully I will see some better results soon!!!

Thanks everyone!

-Dan

[papasar]

All good info so far. You can't maintain the angle and the depth of cut as in straight cuts. As Hi-Ho said raise the knife and don't cut so deep. You sometimes have to make the cut in two passes - one from each direction. Practice cutting small crescents on a scrap piece.
Practice practice practice and don't get discouraged Its good to hear from another chip carver.
Bill K.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Another thing that may be causing you problems (besides the knife not being razor sharp) is the back edge of the knife......most are flat and with fairly sharp corners, round those some, they will not hang up going around curves and circles anywhere near as much! also, are you keeping your blade perfectly flat on the stone when you sharpen? I seem to always go back to the scary sharp method, it seems to me to be the easiest for new carvers to learn.....get some 400, 800, 1200 and 2000 grit sandpaper, or emery cloth or whatever, lay each on a piece of glass plate, lexan, or marble and go for it, but keep the blade flat and lead with the back edge...when you get to the end of the stroke "lift" the knife, don't "roll" it off the paper..if you do you will round the edge again and you will retire in that one spot! LOL A decent test for your blade is to put the edge crossways on your thumb nail, a really sharp blade will sit there, a dull blade will slide off the thumbnail...imo

[MrDantastic]

I have been practicing all day, and I think I am making some progress. I am trying a new way to sharpen my knife, and hopefully that might make a difference. Other than that, I guess its just practice practice practice!