---- Chris Pye: WOODCARVING - NEWSLETTER ---- September 2003 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 and 2002 newsletters ============================================================ Hello Everyone! CONTENTS: 1. Website News 1) New Green Man Carving 2) New Gallery Coming 3) New 'Inspiration' 2. Quick Carving Questions 1) Carving Wet Wood? 2) What's all this Philosophy? 3) Large Wood? 4) Queen Mother Trophy - Handles? 3. Article Tools and Sweeps by Chris Pye Website Bookmarks at the end. __________________________________________ 1. WEBSITE NEWS __________________________________________ 1) NEW GREEN MAN CARVING! The latest carving by Nat Cohen brings the gallery of Green Men up to 13 images. He has taken the circular Green Man from my Elements in Woodcarving book and run with it... Here it is: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/greenman/gm_gallery13.html The full index of images is here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/greenman/gm_galleryindex.html What about YOU? Have you carved a Green Man or similar that you feel is good enough to contribute? 2) NEW GALLERY COMING! I was recently sent pictures of a lovely mirror frame, carved by Edmond McKamey, and that made me think there should be a place on the website to display good pieces of woodcarving by others - for rejoicing and inspiration. A bit like the Green Man gallery, it will be open to anyone to contribute, with notes from the carvers about how they made the work and some progress pictures. So, advance notice... 3) NEW INSPIRATION An arm. Carved by Veit Stoss, one of the great artist carvers of the Northern Renaissance. It would be impossible for the carver to wring another drop of expression from this exercise in anatomy and passion. Here it is: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/g_inspiration.html _______________________________________ 2. QUICK CARVING QUESTIONS ________________________________________ **** QUESTION 1: CARVING WET WOOD **** "I am new to wood carving, and would like to know if you have some pros/cons advice on carving wet wood." **** ANSWER **** I do have quite a bit about it in my book Woodcarving Tools etc, vol 2. Me? I never do it. It's to do with risk - the type of work I do doesn't lend itself to cracks, artistic or otherwise. I need the stability that 'dry' wood gives me. Wood loses water from the moment it is cut; it begins to shrink and re-shape. Tension between different parts of the wood - particularly in whole logs - can lead to cracking. It is possible to work with this shrinkage, or simply have the attitude that splitting doesn't matter - mostly wet woodcarving is done by whole tree sculptors and bowl carvers. It is not a matter of 'right' or 'wrong' but 'What happens if I carve this from wet wood?' and 'What from dry?' =================================== **** QUESTION 2: 'WHAT'S ALL THIS PHILOSOPHY?' **** "Just wanted to say thanks for your time and trouble in doing the newsletter. However there was so much philosophy in this issue that it caused me to have heartburn." **** ANSWER **** I'm sorry you found the philosophy too much. The proportion does vary between newsletters and perhaps it needed another more 'practical' article last month to make a balance. I think it worth saying that I also had two people saying thanking me for it and I have complaints desiring more! I include 'philosophy' because, in my teaching, I find that practical issues are often only a SMALL part of students' problems - and the practical can usually be tackled with intelligent practice. As far as I know, I am the only carving teacher writing who acknowledges this. Issues with motivation, not having enough time, finding the energy, being inspired, visualising, reaching goals etc are extremely common and I feel it is important to include and address these matters too. =================================== **** QUESTION 3: 'Large Wood'? **** "How did you find a large wood that you use for the "Green man 1" in "Elements of Woodcarving "? That wood was about 17" diameter. I checked the photo very carefully and it wasn't laminated. How did you obtain that size? I checked the local lumber mill but they have nothing that wide, and I hate to laminate the wood because the line will appear. Other options or suggestions?" **** ANSWER **** Yes it did come from a board - 17" isn't that wide if you think how wide trees can grow. The problem is your timber yard or lumber mill. Different yards have different stock and interests. Look wider and you'll find one that will have what you want. I have no issues with joining wood - when it is done well. After all, it's what you do with wood. The trick is to be painstaking in your jointing: matching grain and planning where the joint lies as much as getting an immaculate fit. =================================== **** QUESTION 4: 'QUEEN MOTHER TROPHY HANDLES'? **** "Did you turn the outside on the Queen Mother trophy then glue the handles on, or carve the outside down? By the way, great work..." **** ANSWER **** I did it the hard way - honest! If you go to the detail picture page: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/qm2.html then on the little show of carving itself: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/g_qm.html - you'll see me doing it. See the bundle of horseshoes inside? Carving these and jointing them into a Chinese puzzle which wouldn't fall out of the flagon was very time consuming. I could have more quickly got a ferret to stay in there. _______________________________________ 3. ARTICLE Tools & Sweeps... by Chris Pye ________________________________________ TOOLS & SWEEPS... by Chris Pye I had a very interesting email about carving tools sweeps (curved cross section) from Jim Harmon recently. I'd like to thank Jim very much and, with his permission, include what he said here: * * * "I appreciated your explanation of the Sheffield Sweep System ("Woodcarving Tools, Materials & Equipment" pp. 20-22). "I never thought much about it when changing depth-of-cut or looking for same-arc cutters for a given task. But I found myself wanting to also know some numbers to go with the mechanics of the system. "For what it is worth, I Xeroxed two copies of the Sheffield sweep chart in your book to measure depths with a ruler, and compare arcs on a light table. Immediately, the depth figures seemed very significant, but the arc figures, though generally useful, would seem better derived through mathematics. "DEPTH OF CUT: Using a sweep-9 (a semicircle, radius deep) as the standard, my measurements indicated the various sweeps among same-width gouges (I used 25mm) related as follows: Sweep #3 = 5% the depth of a #9 #4 = 10% #5 = 15% #6 = 25% #7 = 50% #8 = 75% #9 = 100% #10 = 110 to 112% #11 = 125%. "SAME-ARC GROUPINGS: Maintaining the same arc (different lengths of arc from the same circle) while changing the width of cutters, requires changing the sweep as well. Starting off with 20 mm wide examples from various sweeps (i.e., a 9/20; an 8/20; a 7/20 etc.) the sweep changes required to maintain a constant arc were as follows: For a 9/20 the progression = 5/3, 6/10, 7/16, 8/19, 9/20, 10/22, 11/22. For an 8/20 the progression = 5/5, 6/11, 7/18, 8/20, 9/22, 10/25, 11/25. For a 7/20 the progression = 5/8, 6/15, 7/20, 8/26, 9/28, 10/30, 11/32. For a 6/20 the progression = 4/5, 5/11, 6/20, 7/32, 8/38, 9/45? For a 5/20 the progression = 3/6, 4/8, 5/20, 6/35, 7/45? "This information may well be of little practical use, success being more in what is pleasing to the eye as opposed to being mathematically correct. "But my eye has long detected in inordinate change in arc between #6 and #7 sweep tools - which this data seems to attribute to the progression required within medium-sweep gouges. " * * * This is an interesting exercise and, it's true, the best way to read the Sheffield List is working with the depth change. If you add the sweeps of say the #6's together you don't get the arc of a circle but a spiral - an aspect of the numbering system that sometimes disappoints. Often you want the exact arc, just a bit longer, and I've often thought a system based on radii might be more useful. Whatever, I guess we are stuck with the system of numbering. Under other names, most established carving toolmakers use very similar lists. This is important when it comes to buying a tools of different makes: we want a #6 Iles to be a #6 Stubai. Where exact sweep and matching tools does matter is in the carving of mouldings or similar repetitive ornamental carving. In general carving, it is more a matter or feel than mathematics - as Jim points out. The fact is, you can make one carving tool do the work of several by the way you manipulate it. It's best to know your tools by using them. That's why I always advise starting with a small number and building up on the basis of need. I sometimes what my hand reaching out for a carving tools among many on the bench and I haven't a clue what it's looking for. But it always finds the right one. ============================================= That's all for this month! Joy and success in your carving! Chris Pye ------------------------- PS: Another one to ponder at the bench: "The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind!" - William James ____________________________________________________________ SOME WEBSITE BOOKMARKS ____________________________________________________________ ----------------- WOODCARVING TOOLS * UK TOOLSHOP: Auriou woodcarving tools and other equipment http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/toolshop/ts_uktoolshop.html * UKTOOLSHOP Direct Link (missing out introductory page): http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/toolshop/uktoolshop/index.html ----------------- WOODCARVING MANUALS * The Accomplished V Tool 1 - Free evaluation copy http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/ * Learning to Carve - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/learncarving/learn_ebook.html * A Guide to Safe Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/safecarving/safecarving_index.html * Mistakes and Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/mistakes/mistakes_ebook.html * Fundamentals of Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/fundamentals/fundamentals_ebook.html ----------------- TEACHING DATES * 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 * CANADA (ROSEWOOD STUDIO, ALMONTE, ONTARIO) http://www.rosewoodstudio.com Sep 15 - Sep 19 The Outcome of the Tool: Sep 22 - Sep 26 Relief Carving Full details here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_classesCAN.html Here's a link to view Rosewood's latest newsletter: http://www.rosewoodstudio.com/woodworking_newsl/woodworking_newsl.htm Inquiries, please call toll free 1-866-704-7778. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) Chris Pye 2003 Chris@chrispye-woodcarving.com