power relief carving a door

[fishcarver2004]

well, what I'm going too try too carve is a full panel door (panel size is 22"1/X 64"x 1 1/2 thick with a 1/2" alder plywood panel glued to the back of the panel.) the door will have a wolf & trees
on it and the wolf will be looking almost at you with his head turned just a little pit too the right. this is the hardest type of carving for me because it is kinda hard to get the face not to look flat. Some of the tools that I will be using to get started are 1.5 horse router,
my arbertec 2" cutter and my dremels
with some kutsal bits( I always have 3 dremels loaded with different bits so i don't have too stop and change bits all of the time ) also some small files & sanding sticks, and MOST Important is a magic wand (I think Nancy G. has some more of them )
well I guess I have 3 pics. so thats 3000
words Ice Cream
so I will start another post
Stacey

[fishcarver2004]

pic 1 is too get the pattern drawn on the panel pic 2 is the routor and pic is the bit that i will be using( It is a 1/4 stright x 11/4" long Carbide tip) when I
look for bits I try and get then with a color on them this one is yellow, it's easy too see what the bit is cutting when it has some kind of color on it.
it won't let me up load the other 2 pics. so back to resizeing
see ya soon
Stacey

[fishcarver2004]

pic 1 is where i will make my first cut.
when i start, i will cut above the line about 1/4" and 1/4" deep (never cut on the line on the first pass!) what this does for you is when you make your second cut along the pattern line is now the bit has somewhere to go if you slip.
the second cut is right on the line,
now i just go deeper with each cut (about 1/4" at a time) no the deepest
part is now 1 1/8" deep. Pic.2 so while I'm right there buy the ears i cut them down to about 1/2" from the bottom of the panel. Pic 3 now I'm cutting around the body but i Won't go as deep along the stomach area , I'm now just trying to give it some depth
still can't get all the pics to load
so back to resizing(boy this is going to take for ever!Hammer

[fishcarver2004]

hi again, pic #3 I'm know cutting around the body, still just going about 1/4" deep all the way around. ( for you carvers that haven't used a router before cut left to right this way you won't have the bit grab the wood, also i vacuum after two passes to keep my work area clean )
pic # 1 now I'm going around the legs,trees so i can better how deep that i need too go.( the bigger your subject is the deeper you will need to go)
pic # 2 I'm cutting inside the lines on the trees it only takes a few minutes and that way i don't have too keep redrawing the pattern
please ask any questions that you might have.
Stacey

[fishcarver2004]

pic#1 i'm just cutting deeper around every thing. pic#2 is a close up around the lower part of the wolf and trees to give you a better idea of how it should look. pic#3 i've cut around every thing
now and i'm pretty happy so far, so now i have cut the right leg down to about
1/2" from the bottom of the panel.
and back side of the wolf on the other side of the tree. pic# 4 just shows it at an a angle

[fishcarver2004]

the next 3 pics so me cutting some layers on the body and the head to show me how the depth of the carving is going to look , there are some lines on the head shown in a earlier pic that sows where i cut , the cuts on the head are about 1/8" deep

[Irish]

Stacey, in one of the middle posting pictures you have an arrow penciled in on the right side tree that points towards the wolves belly line ... what is the reason for the arrow, are you making a note to yourself there?

The depth is beautiful ... I don't use the router here in the shop but I understand what you are telling me to do! Thank you for sharing.

Susan

[fishcarver2004]

Originally Posted by Irish

Stacey, in one of the middle posting pictures you have an arrow penciled in on the right side tree that points towards the wolves belly line ... what is the reason for the arrow, are you making a note to yourself there?

The depth is beautiful ... I don't use the router here in the shop but I understand what you are telling me to do! Thank you for sharing.

Susan

Thanks Susan, yes the arrow is there to show me where the belly is going under the tree, sometimes if i don't make myself
notes on the carving i will cut it of then
the boss makes fun of me!Sad I will
go back though the pics and find the one that i cut a small peace off and repost it, so you can see.
Stacey

[Dylan]

I'd like to know more about how you've got your router set up. I can see that it'd have to be a plunge router and that your making the cuts freehand. But how do you see where your going? Do you have a clear base on the router or is there enough room around the bit to see what your doing?

Dylan

[fishcarver2004]

Originally Posted by Dylan

I'd like to know more about how you've got your router set up. I can see that it'd have to be a plunge router and that your making the cuts freehand. But how do you see where your going? Do you have a clear base on the router or is there enough room around the bit to see what your doing?

Dylan

Hey Dylan, the router, that I'm using for the first part of the carving is dewalt
1.5 hp, the base opening is big enough
to see what it is cutting. I have 2 clamp on lights that i clamp on to a board that i can move around to get light into the grove where i need it,also if you can't find bits that have color on them paint then with a bright color it makes them easer to see. The second router that i will be using is a trimmer router,it is a
a small hand held router. I made a 8"
clear base for it and is perfect for smaller
projects. i will be using this one latter on
for this panel.
Stacey