[Tom H]

This is a question for all you wood carvers and especially those who are "tinkers" (Thomp you listenin?). I am a lazy whittler. My carvings, or should I call them whittlins? Have very messy cuts. Mostly I can help the situation with a good scrubbing with a denture brush and "Mean Green". But, after looking at some of the carvings of our super carvers on this site, I see carvings that look as smooth as silk. Now my question - could a wood carving be "cleaned up" by the use of a pressure regulated sand blaster; using fine silica sand? I would try it, but I don't have a sand blaster. I was thinkin bout a airbrush type apparatus.....Maybe a dumb idea! Tom H

[Colin_Partridge]

Not so dumb Tom it is a very logical thing to do. Now I have done it with great results on my large carvings from time to time. I take them to the local sand blaster and he dusts them off with the big hand held machines. When I say dust he takes one swipe takes about 5 seconds for a four foot carving and the results are amazing. I have had him try some with more intensity but all it does is remove some of the detail and raises the grain.
As for smaller stuff I have never tried it.
Colin

[heineda]

Tom,

Fuzzies are the result of not making clean cuts. One of the keys to carving is avoid making 2 or 3 cuts, when it could be done with only 1. Making the shape with one cut will eliminate fuzzies. Try making more aggresive cuts to avoid them.

Thanks,
Dan

[Mitchell]

^ Bingo.

The best way to clean the fuzzies is not to make them. Be sure to use "good" stop cuts.

You can use a burner to clean up cuts also.

[Tom H]

Oh! I know how to prevent the fuzzies. But I am a "nibbler" with the knife, and besides that I am a type A person who thinks he's always in a hurry. And just maybe. I am lookin for an easy way out....Tom H

[Lynn O. Doughty]

The best advice is to just take the time to learn to do it the correct way then you will solve two problems...

You will solve the rough cut or fuzzy problem.
You will become a better carver.

[Mitchell]

Being a "nibbler" is the worst.....that's one of my problems too. However, if I am carving something that I know that I want to be "good", then I don't nibble.

I like to "doodle" - pick up a piece of wood and play with it until I discover what I really want to carve. Sometimes I never figure it out. - sorry, sidetracked....

I don't think that there is an "easy" way to clean up fuzzies in creavices. The carver that tries go go back into these spots usually only makes matters worse. Brushing and/or burning is an option that I will use on occasion.

If it's really bad, the carving goes into a box and I start over.

PS: There have been some other discussions on this topic. Here's one that's sort of related:

http://woodcarvingillustrated.com/fo...hlight=fuzzies

[wood-whittler]

tom,

another key to clean cuts is to make sure your knife is sharp, hone it before makeing delicate cuts and like it has been said take your time.

bart

[mark yundt]

There is a style of sign "carving " I'm sure most of you have seen where sandblasting is used to make the sign. Areas are masked and the rest is blasted, removing at times quite a bit of wood leaving a deeply textured surface. I would be afraid, till you figured out the pressure/grit,etc, and the finish it might leave on small carvings would destroy any detail or carved finish you might have,,even if you're a nibbler,,just nibble clean cuts,till you work your way to where you want to be.There is nothing wrong with taking multiple cuts,you have a greater margin for error,One major cut done wrong is harder to fix than taking the time with several smaller ones and sneaking up on it.

[mdallensr]

There are times when fuzzies are unavoidable. You may have to carve cross-grain on a really soft spot, or carve up-hill into the grain to undercut, and you end up with a scruffy looking cut, even with sharp tools. I fix some of those on curved surfaces with a curved knife, which allows me to slice small cuts and finish a rough area. For de-fuzzing stop cuts, a Dremel with a bristle wheel works wonders, as does the Scotch-brite home-made wheel. The new, 3-M discs are great for cleaning those areas too. Recently I carved some too-soft butternut and cypress that fuzzed when I looked at it. I used some pointed, flame shaped Dremel stones on those to salvage them and they looked fine. Mike