What is relief and chip carving?

[tamm5912]

OK I am new to wood carving and plan on using alot of different tools to put detail into my chainsaw carvings. What is relief and chip carving and would it be useful in chainsaw carving? I hope this isnt a dumb question but I like to find out as much as I can on woodcarving.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[kitaye]

Relief carving is the art of removing wood to leave raised areas of wood that create a picture. IT can be done small or large and can compliment chainsaw carving.

Chip carving is the art of removing small sections of wood, usually geometric patterns, from a flat surface to create an image. Chip carving is usually small cuts so I don't think it would work well with chainsaw carving.

[tamm5912]

Thanks for the information!!

[Irish]

There is no such thing around here as a "dumb" question!

Relief carving is often thought of a 2-dimensional carving. There really is nothing 2-D about it as the designs are sculptured, rounded and shaped to create wonderfully realistic elements.

The 2-d impression comes because the carving is done on only one side of a flat surface ... either a single board or a glue up of multiple boards to create a large carving blank. So the carve works only on the face of the board as their prime carving area. Some carvers may take their designs over the edges of the board, but again the main focus is on the face.

Think of the carvings that you see on any classic or traditional building. There might be a large carving above a door lintel or a long flat panel design beside the window. These are carvings that have depth and shape but are executed to be seen from one main view point.

Now in front of those relief carvings might be a full eagle that sits on top of linten where the eagle has a full tail, full wings, full head. That eagle would be considered a 3-D or 3-dimensional carving. Here the carver has create the work using all sides of the original cube or shape of the stone or wood. That eagle is meant to be viewed from the front and sides and even back.

Chip carving is a wonderful past time that was created/invented/discovered to fill up the hours of the long cold winter months ... I believe in the Scandinavian countries ... ?

Shapes and motifs are created using a simple bench knife or chip carving knife by cutting small triangles into the wood. The size, depth, shape and lengths of each triangle combined with open, uncarved areas create fantastic designs ... a lot like those childhood kalidascopes .. sp!

In fact a great chip carving can look like an inverted quilt pattern.

There is also free form chip carving where the knife is glided along curving lines of the design at a slight angle. A second cut is made on the opposite side of the line so that a v-shaped sliver pops out. Each cut line begins with a point, flares out to a thick area then returns to a point at the end of the line. Very intrique line art can be created using this style of carving.

As for chain sawing either relief or chip carving ... I know nothing about chain saw work except that I love the finished results and hope to one day learn how to do it myself.

Susan Irish