New Found Carving Skills
Carving came to life for me in October 2018. Learning new techniques and skills interests me. I also enjoy the challenge and research that is needed to become efficient.
I was looking for a new woodworking learning experience which led to searching online for classes. At the time Black Forrest Wood Co. was offering six evening sessions for relief carving. I hadn’t done any carving before and felt it could add an element to some of my woodworking projects. There were four pieces completed through the class, two trees, a face plus a flower of our choice.
Learning Carving was a combination of those six evening classes and plenty of YouTube. It was on the YouTube where I found Doug Linker who carves caricature little men and creatures. I was absorbed in learning from Doug’s Channel. I would take my carving tools to work to use during my lunch break. One small figure that I was working on was easy to take along and be able to progress just a little bit each day.
In the beginning when I first started, I would do small caricatures primarily from Doug Linker website. Once I gained enough confidence and understood proportions, various knife strokes and the basic idea I ventured on my own and carved figures on my own.
From that point on I looked forward to opportunities or I would have an idea and try to translate that into a carving.
An example is “The Carpenter”.
Other example is the small army knights based on the armor of God that I carved for several of our friends.
Carpenter with a hammered sore thumb- Ouch!
I obtained several books which illustrate front, side, and back view profiles. Ones I have are Keith Randich, Fox Chapel series and Mike Shipley. This provided me an excellent starting point to gain an understanding of overall size, shape and proportions. As a gift I received a years subscription to Woodcarving Illustrated by Fox Chapel. It was in this publication that I followed the pattern for Windy the Cowboy. I’m certainly still learning so much with every carving. I just keep at it with more and more practice.
Surprisingly from Instagram I received a commission for a city policeman to be given as a birthday present. Based on actual uniform pictures the carving was personalized for the recipient.
The wood I prefer to use is bass (Linden). I was fortunate to receive a few log cutoffs from a gracious SAWS member. Bass has nice tight grain which isn't as prone to splitting out very easily. I did try cedar and spruce but the grain between growth rings causes it to split very easily particularly on small features like the fingers, noses and toes.
For paints I only used the small acrylic arts and craft type from Michaels which come in so many colours. I ended up buying a few basics tones and then a couple of the kits to give me 15 or 20 some colours which seems to be quite adequate. After the paint colours are done I use a diluted antiquing agent which puts a tan tone wash and accentuates the shadow lines and creases in the skin and clothing which helps to tone down the brilliance of the paint.
During my carving course we had the opportunity to buy a complete set of full size carving gouges. There were seven gouges which comprised of skew, V and various curvatures of gouges. The perk to the course for me was getting expert guidance on sharpening methods using stones, strops and buffing wheels.
These allowed me to do all the larger projects. However when it came to the smaller figures I acquired the beginning set of Flexcut knives. This set has a detail knife, a moderate size rough out knife and V and Curved gouges. These are the palm variety which is smaller to use and easier to handle for small figures. Once getting into more human figures I found the need for a couple more knives so acquired those individually. To sharpen - Flexcut sells yellow honing compound and a strop which is flat on one side and various shapes on the flip side for doing the insides of the all the gouges. This has given all the sharpening capabilities that I currently need.
My tools were bought from various locations - KMS tools, Canadian Woodworker, Black Forest Wood Co. Glance through the online suppliers and you’ll see there's no shortage of sources to obtain good quality knives.
Future plans for my projects are to continue with the slightly little larger scale caricature. A lot of the first ones I did were about 3 inches in height, and I now find going to 5 to 7 inches I’m able to add a bit more detail plus it’s much easier to work that detail. This size does however require longer to produce and to develop detailed quality product.
I have not yet shared my abilities in terms of teaching anyone. I did have one fellow SAWS member approach me interested. I was honoured to guide him in a start, and I see that he is pursuing and enjoying it.
I find that the carving gives me a small-scale portable woodworking opportunity for when I'm at work on breaks because I am a carpenter with the extra wood chips just sweep up with everything else at the end of the day. I also enjoy carving at a small desk that I have in our basement watching some TV. Of course, it's easy enough take along on the patio, camping, even visiting others.
When I first started carving I felt it was something I could do long term versus the heavier lumber hosting onto machines and larger projects that I work on. Carving is a way to scale that down and simply do it in my lap and hopefully I can continue well into my senior years.
Probably what I enjoy most is seeing that small block of wood come alive and take on a personality.
