carving aches and pains

[deb]

Hi, I am brand new to carving. We live in NM and have gotten cottonwood bark from the bosque area here. It is very thin and flakey, but I'm learning. While doing this, I have had really achey shoulders or tops of the arms. I am wondering if all of this is normal with new carvers. I had no clue where to post or where to ask. Thanks in advance for the help.
deb

[doris]

hi deb,,, welcome to wci,,pains begin when one does carve in a wrong position. so i suggest to look how your pose is while carving. do you carve by holding the work in one hand ? then, it might be you bend over too strongly. holding the piece in one hand requires much more strength whhile carving than when the piece is clamped tightly ssomewhere. even the cutting goes easier since you dont need press.... if you fix your work on a table or bench, and you still bend over, raise the work. try fixing the work so that your pose is comfortable .... and, since your pain is also in top of arms, it might mean you use too much effort. are your tools really sharp ? they should glide easily through the wood when doing smaller woodchips. maybe your tools are not really sharp, so you need push them much stronger than were necessary when sharpened up well. hope it helps to find the source of the pain. that is not normal, and indicates a problem in your approach. a litle tired at the end of a carving session is normal for a new carver, but pain not

[Nancy-G]

Hi Deb - welcome
When I started carving I had LOTS of sore muscles in my arms ... I was so sore I even had trouble reaching up to wash my hair. I was using muscles that had not been much used before.
In no time they were "developed", the soreness was gone and I was doing fine.
I hope your muscles are 100% very quickly and you learn all the painless joys of carving.

[AlArchie]

Both Nancy and Doris are correct. Holding small carvings in your hands requires muscles you may not have used before, that's not necessarily saying you should not do that. A lot of carvers who do caricature and other small carvings hold thier work. Some of the larger carvings are much better handled by "anchoring" them to a work bench or vice. Relief carvings that are placed flat on a bench in front of you require you to bend over to carve and that puts a strain on arms, shoulders and backs. I've found that making a base for relief carving that tips forward, like an artists' easle eliminates all this strain.

Your muscles will develop as you continue to carve so some of that will improve. You should also take periodic breaks; two reasons. First to let those muscles relax and recover a bit and; second you should be aware of the possibility of repetitive motion nerve damage (carpal tunnel syndrome). So take a short break every 20 minutes or so....maybe go and strop your tools or just walk around to stretch your pegs.

One more thing. If that pain continues or gets worse instead of better, you might check with your physician. You may have some tendon or joint problems that should be addressed. Rotator cuff tears, arthritic conditions, tendonitis, bone chips in joints and a number of other medical conditions may be the culprits and most or all of these are treatable either through physical therapy, medication or minor surgery.

Al

[Claude]

Deb:
Take a look at some of Gene Messer's videos. Notice how he doesn't use his shoulder and arm muscles (biceps/triceps) at all. He's primarily using his hand and finger muscles with a bit of wrist action also. If you are using your shoulder muscles, then in my opinion, you're doing it incorrectly and have the potential for a major accident cutting yourself. One reason people use their shoulder muscles is that they don't know not to; another is that their tools are not sharp enough. Again, look at how Gene does it - he even has a video on how to sharpen your knife.

When I first started using my carving knife, I used it like a chisel - meaning the edge was pushed into the wood. This works, but not very well, and takes a lot more energy to cut the wood. When I finally learned to make my knife cut with a bit of slicing action, it was amazing how much easier the cuts were.

How to tell if your knife is sharp: You need a bright light, such as a gooseneck desk lamp, near your head and pointing down. Hold the knife flat under the light so the light reflects off the blade into your eyes. Slowly rotate the knife so the edge begins to rotate up towards the light. When the edge gets on top, you should see no reflection at all, if the knife is sharp. If you see any reflection al all, you have a dull spot on the edge, and the knife needs to be stropped more. Once your knife is sharp, you will rarely ever need to use a stone or sandpaper on it - just stropping on a piece of leather, wood, or cardboard with some stropping compound on it should be enough. I usually just strop 5 strokes on one side of the blade, pulling the knife away from the cutting edge, then 5 on the other, then 4 on the first side, 4 on the other, then 3 on the first side, etc., until I get down to one on each side, and I'm done. Takes me 15 -20 seconds. Then, I rotate the knife under the light and look for reflections: no reflection = sharp knife.

Claude

[Tom-H]

Welcome Deb! There's some great advice here. I know that some of the ol' carvers here have a hard time determining if a specific pain is carving related, or just ol' age. That's be me for one, but if you follow the advice so far you'll be better off. And Claudes description of checking for knife sharpness is very well put.

Tom H

[Donna_T]

Deb,
Welcome to our helpful website. It's a great place to visit and get answers to carving concerns.

All of the advice so far is right on target. As a female carver, we often don't have the hand strength of our fellow male carvers and we find ourselves using more arm and shoulder muscles for leverage. This is especially true if you're "mature" (that's another word for "older" or over 60) and have some aging stiffness and soreness already.

Take frequent breaks from carving--stretching hands, arms, and shoulders even for a few minutes. Roll your head, neck, and shoulders and stretch your fingers and hand back and around.

Aleve and Tylenol are my friends. When the discomfort is really bad (like when I go to a carving workshop and carve much longer than usual) ICE helps too. I also use a product called BIOFREEZE on those sore spots.

Glad you found our fantastic website. Enjoy and come back often.

Donna T

[papasar]

Deb,
Another trick to avoid sore shoulders is to keep your elbow close to your body when carving. IT also gives you more control of your tools. Same thing applies if your chipcarving, whittling, or using a mallet.
Bill K.

[deb]

Geez you guys!! Thanks so much for all the info. I will try to apply all of the above. I do have a carvers' vise that I use, on a table. I do use my arms and hold them higher than I should I guess. I have also not taken many breaks, one day I was steady for seven hours!! I am obsessed! Anyway, thanks so much!!!
Deb

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Lots of good info. already so I figured I would just say welcome to the forum. Hope you work out your pains so you could enjoy carving.

Dave