How do you relief carve???

[Irish]

Here ya go ... and here is where you can download the pattern.
Woodcarving Illustrated - How To Magazine for Carvers - Mule Deer

Susan

[Irish]

Eric ... no matter what a relief carving is eventually going to cup. It is inevitable as we are working with a natural product that grew specifically to soak up moisture and move that moisture up or down through the tree.

If you place the curve of the grain down ... so that it has the bowl concave look ... the board will eventually cup away from the wall. If you place the curve of the grain with the high point of the curve up ... convex ... that eventually cupping will pull the sides of the board towards the wall.

Where this really becomes important is when you glue up several planks to create a wider board. As a general rule the planks are alternated with one up, one down, then one up. This seems to balance out the cupping that comes with time. Some carvers who do glue ups will even bevel the edges of the individual boards to create a minimal upward cup so that when the blank does eventually warp it will warp flat.

As a hobby carver ... grin ... I simple except that cupping, warping, and even splitting is just a part of our craft and even may add a little 'antique' to the work.

Robson ... I have never used a straight chisel for my stop cuts, always a bench knife or chip carving knife. Now, that is just my style of carving. My prime carving wood is basswood which is so soft that I have never needed to do any mallet work. With a bench knife I can pull the cut and don't need to 'hammer' anything.

I love undercuts ... but for a low relief or bas relief effect the joint line between two elements does show. If I have used a stop cut that is too deep along that joint line I can turn my bench knife over and by pulling the top spine (non-sharp) edge of the knife along the cut it will force the fibers to heal ... hiding the cut.

Susan

[patriclop2pl]

Originally Posted by Irish

Here ya go ... and here is where you can download the pattern.
Woodcarving Illustrated - How To Magazine for Carvers - Mule Deer

Susan

Susan for taking the time to look for the picture!! I get it now!! About depth. Thanks so very much!!

Patty