---- Chris Pye: WOODCARVING - NEWSLETTER ---- January 2005 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com "Dedicated to the teaching, learning and love of woodcarving" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please forward this newsletter to a woodcarving friend, and anyone else you think might be interested. Thanks! This is an opt-in newsletter and you should only be receiving it because you requested it from the website, or were sent it by a friend. Subscribe or Unsubscribe easily on the home page here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/ or using the link at the end of the newsletter. ****Back issues here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/intro/pastnews.html including zipfiles for 2001, 2002 & 2003, 2004 newsletters ============================================================ Hello & Happy New Year Everyone! May it be propitious for us all. CONTENTS: 1. Quick Carving Questions 1) 'Eye' Tool? 2) Bull Nosed Gouges? 3) Warping Wood? 4) Clean Carving & Women Carvers 5) Lettering Gouges 6) Signing Carvings 2. Article: Finishes 3 - Colour etc 3. Follow Up 1) PEG - the last and best word. Website Bookmarks at the end. List of Slipstones Woodcarving Manuals Teaching _______________________________________ 1. QUICK CARVING QUESTIONS _______________________________________ **** QUESTION 1: 'EYE' TOOL? **** I want to carve some moulding and I know you use a special tool for carving the "eyes" - the little, circular, sunken dots - a small gouge with a slanting head. Is this tool available commercially or did you adapt a small gouge yourself? If the latter, how? **** ANSWER **** You have to make the tool. Not difficult but only worth the time if you have a lot of these eyes to do. The tool is useless for all other purposes. Essentially you turn a small, deep gouge into an auger that you rotate and push vertically into the wood. The wedge effect of the bevel pops the pip out, leaving the 'eye'. * You'll need a 1/8" (or whatever diameter eye you want) x #9 (semicircular) gouge. * Grind back (radius) whichever corner of the tool will lead as you rotate it. * Continue the bevel (grinding) from the untouched corner right around the radius and up the blade about 1/8" little. * Sharpen what you have ground: from the untouched corner, round the curve of the opposite corner and up the blade a little. *You should now have a curved sharp leading corner that cuts the wood as you rotate the handle. And that's the point: the curved and sharp leading edge cuts a neat line and saves you having to lift and reset the tool as you work it around into a circle, which you must do to prevent the normally shaped leading ploughing up the wood. So you work quickly, popping out the pips. =================================== **** QUESTION 2: BULL NOSED GOUGES? **** "I bought one of your Ashley Iles 2 1/2 gouges: 1.5" just what I was looking for - but I was surprised to find that it has a significant bullnose, probably deviates by 2mm from edge to edge and not truly square. Not too big a problem for me, because I can easily regrind it, but I'm sure it would be so minor for others. Just thought you'd like to know that Ashley Iles is not doing the sort of quality control that matches the quality of your own work, so you can address it with them." **** ANSWER **** Yes, indeed, I'll pass it on. 2mm on 1.5" doesn't seem a lot - they are ground by eye - but I did stipulate straight across and that's what they should be. The real issue though is what carvers - you! - want in the shape of their carving tools. Some carvers actually prefer a pronounced bullnose, and I can't criticize their work - they tend to incise more with a rolling action along the edge. Me, my style uses the corners extensively, more of the slicing like a knife in it, so I find a square edge with strong corners works best. There are also disagreements about cutting angles and inner bevels. The point is that there isn't a 'right' or 'wrong' shape for a carving tool as such; it's more a matter of how you like to work. And there ARE different options. When I teach, write, or ask for a tool to be made, I'm offering something that works for ME. But you should never take what I, or any other carver says or has made as definitive and fixed in stone. You should suck it and see! It might or might not suit you. You may be able to improve on it. Or you may just pick out a tiny bit that adds to your overall carving knowledge or repertoire. At the end of the day, it's the carving that counts. All this tool business is just a means to an end. So I'd suggest you try it without prejudging. See how it feels before you go to the trouble of regrinding. =================================== **** QUESTION 3: WARPING WOOD **** "I enjoy carving hiking staves from cedar heartwood but I have a problem with some of the staves warping and bending after I make them, even though the posts from which they come are straight. Any suggestions on how I can minimize warping of these staves?" **** ANSWER **** Wood will adapt its shape to any new stresses within the timber that are created as its mass is worked. This is true for any woodworking Your best bet is to 3/4 finish the sticks, let them stand for a further length of time to adjust or season more. The finish completely. Woodturners do this all the time Another option is to straighten the wood by steam bending. Look it up on the web: you can make a simple steamer from a bit of pipe. If you save up the sticks for a batch session it will be quicker and easier than you think. =================================== **** QUESTION 4: CLEAN CARVING & WOMEN CARVERS **** "I have just read Erve Moninger's piece ('Others' gallery on the website) about carving the head of his carousel horse, and he mentioned that you'd taught him to carve the main and tail without sanding. Is that something that you could explain to me in words? I have recently started carving classes and am thoroughly enjoying it - although I am the only woman!" **** ANSWER **** Thing is, there isn't a special carve-a-mane-without-sanding technique. It's the way I normally carve: leaving all my work straight from the chisel. The best way for you to learn this is to work through my 'Relief Carving in Wood' book where I demonstrate ways of handling and working with tools to achieve cut and slice cleanly. It's not difficult, more habit than anything. All I was did was correct Erve's bad habit... And what's this 'only a woman'? Shame on you! With power tools to compensate for bigger muscles and practise to develop the smaller ones, there's no reason that you can't be a fine carver. Most woman have a better design sense and many have transferable skills. (One of the best students I had was a woman who came to the week ornamental class with absolutely no wood experience but outshone everyone because she was a talented cake-decorator!) The main issue for women seems to be one of self-confidence. Chances are you see tools as part of a male domain and didn't grow up with an assumption that is instilled into boys that you can use them. But carving is far more of a level playing field between men and women than might be thought - the tools are simple and the design element much stronger and more tending to art than craft. No, forget the woman bit. See yourself as a carver and just do it - lots of it! =================================== **** QUESTION 5: Lettering Gouges **** "I have just purchased your wonderful and inspiring book [I don't write this stuff! - Chris]: 'Lettercarving in Wood'. I am most interested in carving letters in the uncial and half uncial style to begin with. You have a list of basic tools on page 38 (14 tools in total) but this list is for 2" lettering. I intend to mainly do 1" high lettering round bowl edges and signs. Do I just find tools as near to half the size listed?" **** ANSWER **** It does say somewhere! What you say about half sizes, or whatever, is true for the straight tools, but NOT the gouges. Why? Because - look at the charts to confirm - #6'gouges, say, at different widths have different radiuses. Put them together and to continue the curve and you get a spiral... (Why? Don't ask...) So - and unfortunately, the simple maths doesn't work. What you must do is: * Draw out your letter on paper. * Pick a sweep that corresponds to the radii of the OUTER edge of the curve (of the 'O' say) and about 1/6 the circumference. You can make this tool do the stab cuts, outer wall and top and bottom inner curves. * Pick another for the flattest curve on the INNER wall of the letter, about half the height. You'll need to overlay the letter on the tool chart gouge sweeps to get the correct tool number. =================================== **** QUESTION 6: SIGNING CARVINGS **** "Regarding how best to sign one's woodcarvings to personalize the carvings, I've seen some that woodburn their signature or printed name, some that use a pen, etc. Any suggestions or preferences?" **** ANSWER **** It's really up to you! I use an engraved brass plate on more substantial carvings, stabbed letters on smaller, and just recently I've pyrographed! You could develop a little logo based on your name, or a monogram of you initials? __________________________________________ 2. ARTICLE: FINISHING WOODCARVINGS by Chris Pye __________________________________________ FINISHING WOODCARVINGS by Chris Pye Part 3 - Colour etc I've looked at oil finishes, and I've looked at wax and this covers 95% of what I do. But what about a coloured finish, or one without any colour at all, or just a light finish: bringing a shine to a carving without darkening it? I'm going to say a few words about this now. There is not a lot of point my going into particular products, there are so many; it's more the approach I want to get over: ** Here is the most important rule: Never (I'd better say that again and a bit louder: NEVER!) stain or bleach your carving WITHOUT EXPERIMENTING ON A SIMILAR PIECE OF WASTE WOOD FIRST! - and this means texturing or carving the surface to mimic your work. If I'm in any doubt, I just won't do it! You can only remove stains etc form wood by re-carving the surface, which is pretty disheartening and you do feel you lack a neurone or two somewhere. ** Here's another good bit of advice: KEEP THE RESULT OF YOUR EXPERIMENTS! Make notes. Create 'test strips' with different dilutions and the number of times you've applied them to an area to build up strength or depth of colour. The chances are you'll want to do it again, which may be sometime in the future, and when you come across your notes you'll feel you have a few more neurones than you gave yourself credit for. COLOUR: I don't actually paint carvings. I use water based stains and wood dyes which show the grain of the wood. I've also used coffee, Indian and calligraphy inks. I've mixed acrylic and oil paints with water and linseed oil respectively. Remember that the colour of the wood affects the result of the staining, and that wood matures and darkens with time anyway. ** Here's another thing worth knowing: END GRAIN ABSORBS MORE COLOUR THAN SIDE GRAIN BECAUSE OF THE CAPILLARY ACTION OF THE CUT FIBRES: IT WILL GO DARKER. So, building up thinned washed allows you to selectively reduce or add more to certain areas. You can do this too when you have a mismatch in colour across a joint, to even out the appearance. BLEACHING I've had success with 2-part bleaches ('Rustins' from woodworking suppliers). The effect penetrates no deeper into the wood than colour and you may need to repeat the bleaching several times to remove all colour. You also need to STOP THE BLEACH WORKING or any subsequent colouring will be affected. There will be instructions on the packet. If you start with a whitish wood (Sycamore, Lime, Basswood, Maple), bleach, wash with thin white acrylic, seal with white shellac and clear wax you'll have a very white carving! LIGHT COLOUR * You can't get a light colour on dark wood without bleaching and then adding colour. * Oil finishes darken wood and bring out the grain. * You can get bleached and very pale waxes that affect the wood least. * Seal the wood first with a bleached (pale) shellac) or a U-V resistant acrylic varnish as used by artists on their canvases. Whatever - don't take my word for it: experiment! FINALLY: I've briefly shared something of how I finish carvings in these 3 articles - what I myself do. But have YOU something else to say, a technique or product to share? Or there may be something else you'd like to know about finishing? Let me know and I'll add it next month... __________________________________________ 3. FOLLOW UP __________________________________________ 1) PEG (Thanks to Paul Weiss) A brief comment about the supposed toxicity of PEG. In a word, it ain't. PEG (PolyEthyleneGlycol) is available in many different molecular weights. Different weights vary the texture of the stuff from a thin oily liquid to a solid-at-normal-temperature waxy stuff. It's actually approved, and much used, in commercial food preparations. We've all eaten pounds of the stuff - start looking for it in factory foods. In addition, it's commonly used by turners who make wooden bowls, including those used for food, from green wood. Looking at the Material Safety Data Sheet issued by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety for, say, PEG 200 (a medium weight variety) you would see that there is no adverse effect at all, except for chronic (all day, every day) exposure to vapors from high temperature fumes. That's just not possible in the soak tank, or even at the lathe, let alone with a carving gouge. Other than that, if you keep your hands buried in it all day long, every day, you'll need to use a good hand cream, because it dries them out. There is widespread confusion between this stuff and Ethylene Glycol, which is a main ingredient in automobile anti-freeze solution, and which IS toxic. Anti-freeze will kill ya, but PEG is similar in name only. There's really no opportunity to screw up and use the wrong one, unless you're trying too hard. [Don't you love people who know what they are talking about! - Chris] _____________________________________ That's all for this month! Joy and success in your carving! Chris Pye ------------------------- PS: One for the bench: "Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn't have it in the beginning." – Mahatma Gandhi ____________________________________________________________ SOME WEBSITE BOOKMARKS ____________________________________________________________ ----------------- SLIPSTONES WOODCARVING MANUALS Help yourself! Full list and details: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/index.html * Quick Carving Questions - 1 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq1.html (Sponsored by Tools for Working Wood: http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/) * Quick Carving Questions - 2 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq2.html (Sponsored by Classic Hand Tools: http://www.classichandtools.com/) * Quick Carving Questions - 3 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq3.html (Sponsored by Preferred Edge Carving Knives & Supplies: http://www.preferrededge.ca/) * The Accomplished V Tool 1 - Free evaluation copy http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/v1.html * Learning to Carve - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/learncarving.html * A Guide to Safe Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/safecarving.html * Mistakes and Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/mistakes.html * Fundamentals of Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/fundamentals.html *Slicing, And The Value Of The Inside Bevel With The Chris Pye #2 1/2 Finishing Gouges From Ashley Iles - Free pdf http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/slicing.html ----------------- TEACHING * UK (1-TO-1 PERSONAL TUITION) Full details here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_custom.html Single day: £150 3 days: £360 5 days: £495 Lunch included. Local B&Bs in a very beautiful part of England... * USA (CENTER FOR FURNITURE CRAFTSMANSHIP, MAINE) 2005 http://www.woodschool.org/ June 20 - 24 Ornamental carving (Mouldings) June 27 - July1 Relief Carving July 4 - July 8 Carving Tutorial * CANADA (ROSEWOOD STUDIO, ALMONTE, ONTARIO) 2005 http://www.rosewoodstudio.com Sep 12 - Sep 16 Relief Carving I (Beginners) Sep 19 - Sep 23 Relief Carving II (Intermediate) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) Chris Pye 2005 Chris@chrispye-woodcarving.com ----------------------- -----------------------