Last update: April 2002        Back to main page

alongee

a carving tool splaying directly from the shoulder

background

the plane against which the whole subject is placed. See ground

bell flower

usually as a drop, small ornamental, bell-shaped flowers.

bent carving tools

have a curve or crank along their length. This allows them to get deeper into recesses without catching the wood around the edge and juddering. Always push the tool forwards to cut; never simply lever.
longbent (salmon, sowback, curved) gouges are bent along the whole blade length for shallower recesses
shortbent (spoon, spoonbit) tools have a long shank with a (to a greater or lesser degree) tight crank at the blade, for getting in deeper hollows
backbent tools are reversed shortbents for use when the tool is to be presented to the wood when you want to carve into a hollow with the gouge in an 'upside down' (cannel to wood) position.

bevel

the wedge-like of metal between the cutting edge and the heel. There may be bevel on outside or the inside.
Outer bevels should be kept as flat as possible for most use; and stropped to a polish, so sliding more easily through the wood. A correct cutting angle is important.
Inner bevels are never found on gouges bought straight from the manufacturer, leading the inexperienced to think is the norm. However an inside bevel of even 5° has enormous benefits - particularly when a gouge is used 'upside down'. See my Woodcarving Tools, Materials & Equipment p118 for a discussion of the advantages.

bolster

see shoulder

bosting

or 'bosting in' is the very important stage after crude roughing out when the principle forms are positioned and the flow of the carving is sketched in. it underpins all subsequent shaping and modelling.

cannel

(sounding like 'camel', not 'canal') refers to the inside face of any carving tool: deep or flat gouge, V tool etc. Usually 'in cannel' to differentiate from 'out cannel', the opposite, outer face.

cinquefoil

the five-lobed (foils) effect of the inner arcs between five cusps

concave

I could never remember this one either until I realised 'cave' was like the hollow - which this term describes

convex

rounded forms

curved gouges

see bent tools

cusp

the small triangular point between the foils in Gothic tracery. The cusps may have with a triangular, inverted pyramid carved into them.

cutting

there are many ways of manipulating and making cuts with carving tool and all carvers need as much versatility as possible here. Key terms, some of which are more variations on a theme:
running cut: a long cut with v tools, fluters or deep gouges; as in lining in or decorating the wood surface
slicing cut: the gouge is given a sideways movement as it is pushed forwards. This may involve simply 'drifting' to the side - sometimes called 'sliding' - or rotating the handle a little, or both. The cutting edge may be sliced to the left or the right and is particularly seen with flatter gouges and vital for dealing with instances of awkward grain
sweep cut or sweeping cut: a slice cut with emphasis on rotating the gouge by the handle along the sweep. It is particularly seen in deeper gouges which can make full use of their perfectly shaped sweeps to set in clean outlines.
rocking or rocking cuts are just short sweep cuts. The principle way of carving wood. The handle is given a quick twist (rotated) as it is moved forward, slicing out chip. This is much cleaner cutting than simple pushing the tool along straight.
stop cut: a short stab cut which limits the extent to which wood fibres may tear stab cut:pushing the cutting edge straight in and out of the wood either for decorative purposes or as a stop cut.

cutting angle

is the angle between the bevel and the surface of the wood - it can only be measured if both faces are flat. Find it by placing the carving tool on the bench; slide it forward as you raise the handle and the tool 'bites' the wood at the cutting angle. 15-20° is fine for the majority of medium density carving woods. Rounded bevels raise the cutting angle and so decrease tool control; and increase the size of the bevel 'wedge'. For more discussion see my book Woodcarving Tools Materials & Equipment p122

cutting edge

invisible to the naked eye and must be immaculately sharp - with its corners. Remember that you can have a very sharp cutting edge but a carving tool which cuts poorly if the bevel is incorrectly shaped or at the wrong cutting angle

detailing

the final stage when all the surface decoration is carved. A very common mistake is for beginners to put in details too early - when they end up in the wrong place and fix the carving to early. They do it because they are thinking 'surface' and feel safe with something 'caught'. However details are never the problem. If the underlying forms are correctly bosted and modelled, trust that details will just fall into place.

edge

the hard end of a plane. Its strength depends on th lie of the grain and the degree of undercutting. Differentiate from a form horizon.

enclosed ground

see ground

glyptic

from the Greek 'to carve': sculpture or other work formed by carving or reductive methods. Such work should clearly differentiate from plastic or modelled processes

ground

any plane in front of which another plane (or part of the carving) is raised. So, say you are wearing a shirt; your wrist then becomes the 'ground' for the cuff; the cuff would be the 'ground' for the button and so on. Differentiate this from background
enclosed grounds occur if there is no free side from which to gain access and bent gouges often need to get access.

grounding out or simply grounding

is the process whereby a ground or background is reduced to a specified level. It usually involves a rapid lowering stage followed by levelling to finish of the surface.

grounding tool or grounder

a shortbent flat carving tool for finishing enclosed grounds. in the past flat chisels were often used, at a time when a lot of grounds with low relief furniture carving were punched or matted over. the torn grain left by the digging in of chisel corners could be disguised. today the tool of choice is more likely a no.3 (flattest) gouge which will leave a smooth flat ground while keeping corners clear.

heel

the ridge where bevel meets blade proper. Smooth it over so to make sure it burnishes the wood after the cutting edge, and not scratch it.

high relief

a loose term, as is low relief, without a numerical value: the background in such carving is relatively deep compared with the width of the subject. It would be fair to say a background depth of about a quarter of the subject's width is high relief. As high relief gets deeper so the subject approaches full three dimensions.

inner bevel

see bevel

incising

literally 'cutting': any surface carving with gouge, v tool etc. If a carving is just incised, it would not have involved grounding out.

intaglio

(pron. without the 'g'. Syn: diaglyph) literally to 'engrave' a surface. The subject is incised but the background is left untouched. A buttermould and many Egyptian wall reliefs would be examples of intaglio carving.

in the round

see sculpture.

junction

the line where a wall meets the ground. Always leave junctions clean and neat, even when deeply undercut. Poor toolwork here lacks professionalism and is a sign of an incompetence. And people always look.

Keel

see V tool

levelling

finishing off a background to a smooth plane; it's success depends on a careful lowering - waste removal - beforehand. A background need only appear flat and level, it is not necessary to be precise like an engineer.

licking up

a trade term for a final going over and tidying of a carving.

lining in

outlining a subject in relief carving - quickly and approximately - with V tool or fluter to protect it when the surrounding waste wood is removed. Also allows safe setting in, without danger of the wedge-like action of the bevel weakening or breaking wood fibres.

longbent gouge: see bent tools

lowering

removing waste from a ground or background to a required level. It is worth doing this methodically and precisely - the final levelling finish is then very quick and exact.

low relief

a shallow, but arbitrary, depth of carving. As with high relief it is not so much the actual physical depth of the background as the relationship of this depth to the subject. A background at say a thirtieth of the subject width would definitely be low relief. A huge Assyrian lion wall relief may be many, many times deeper in actual inches but still be classed as a similar level of low relief because the ratio of depth of background to subject is the same

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mass

is contrasted with space, both of which are present and sensed in a carving and must be considered of equal importance in a design. Carvers create space by removing the mass, but paradoxically it is space they work with. mass appears to arise in the carving as the space is removed, even though it was all there in the original block.

matting tool

see froster

modelling

a stage after the principle underlying forms (see bosting) have been established. Secondary and further forms are carved, gradually refining the carving and leading on to final detailing.

'N' for...?

Please let me know!

outer bevels

see bevels

outlining

a good alternative word to lining in, although 'the outline' is usually taken to be the principle one surrounding the whole subject, with a background, whereas lining in can refer to separating any subject from its ground.

parting tool

alternative name for a v tool and which points to a key V tool function: of separating one part from another

pierced relief carving

the background is cut away completely or in parts. Remember that whatever is seen through the piercings - wallpaper even - will become a part of the carving.

plane

implies a two dimensional surface. In woodcarving generally (including sculpture) parts with a flat (or flattish) surface; it is in the nature of cutting with chisels and gouges to emphasis changes of plane, distinguishing glyptic from plastic work. In relief carving one can use 'plane' simply to mean a different level, as in a 'change of plane' (change of level) which may not be truly flat.

plastic

from the Greek 'to mould': sculpture or other work formed in soft material such as clay by modelling or additive methods. Such work should clearly differentiate from glyptic or carved processes

pod tools

see spade tools

punches

small bars of metal with shaped ends for indenting, either for cleaning and levelling the bottom of a small hole for example, or for decorating a surface. See froster.

QUATRAFOIL

the four-lobed (foils) effect of the inner arcs between four cusps

quercus

species of Oak.

quick gouges

a gouge is said to be getting 'quicker' as it gets deeper in cross section

relief carving

lies in its own world, somewhere between painting and sculpture, with the depth dimension diminished and subjects usually related to a virtual, original, surface plane and set against a background plane. see low and high relief carving

rocking cut

see cutting

running cut

see cutting

salmon gouge

see bent tools

sculpture

a loose term of wide interpretation for - and better kept for - three dimensional work. I use it to means carvings which are fully three dimensional: 'in the round'; as compared with a relief carving where the depth dimension is less than in reality. There are two important approaches to creating in three dimensions and it is very important for carvers to understand and appreciate the difference: glyptic and plastic

setting in

the precise shaping of an outline around a subject by matching sweeps to curves or slicing the line with the cutting edge

shape

sometimes used as an alternative to form. I tend to use the term as an aspect of form, to mean the configuration of an edge or area, how the surface of the three dimensional object appears. so shape is something more two dimensional even if actually moving through space

shank

the varying length or square metal between the shoulder (or handle if no shoulder present) and the blade of a carving tool.

shoulder

a flange which prevents the carving tool from being driven into the handle and splitting it proper. Also called 'bolster' or 'stop'

slicing cut

see cutting

sowback gouge

see bent tools

spade tools

splay out along their length. Roughly depending on the ratio between shank and blade you get fishtail, allongee and spade tools. Spades are somewhere betwen the two with approximately equal amounts of shank to blade. Also called 'pod' or 'long pod' tools.

spoonbit gouge

see bent tools

spoon gouge

see bent tools

stab cut

see cutting

stop cut

see cutting

surface

this is always actually what you see - so it is a mistake, and a lost opportunity, not to make full use of it and the qualities (texturing, toolmarks etc) you can give it as a carver.

sweep cut

see cutting

sweep

the curvature of a gouge in cross section, being an arc of a circle. Gouges are identified by how much curve there is, from 'flat' (almost, but definitely not, a chisel) to 'deep' (or 'quick', the quickest being a semi-circle), with 'medium' in between.

tang

the sharp end of a carving tool which fits into, and should be in line with, the handle
slip/slipstone small shaped stones for working the inside of gouges or V tools.

tracery

loose term (deriving from Sir Christopher Wren and not found in medieval contracts) for the repeating, lace-like patterns of lines, bars and lobe-like decoration found in Gothic architecture furniture. More delicacy is achievable by woodcarvers because wooden tracery is non-weight bearing, unlike stone. May be pierced or panelled. Usually laid out geometrically although the oldest are done purely by eye. See foil, cusp, trefoil, quatrefoil cinquefoil

trefoil

the three-lobed (foils) effect of the inner arcs between three cusps

undercutting

also known as backing off, cutting an edge or form horizon from behind to increase the sense of thinness or relief.

veiner

a small (1/8in 3mm or less) deep gouge, or U shaped gouge. See fluter.

v tool

a very important tool in the carver's repertoire consisting of two chisels meeting at an angle of 60° (commonest), 90° or 45°. The line along which they meet is known as the keel. Used in particular for lining in and creating decorative grooves. Also known as a parting tool.

wall

the side plane of a subject, having depth and to which a ground junction is made. It may also have a surface edge. the term may also describe the side walls of an incised letter

wasting

removing unwanted wood so as to approach the surface form or outline of a subject. See levelling

help!

and I thought you'd look down this end of the alphabet...

ideas welcome!

zoomorphics

designs or ornamentation based on the forms of animals, birds, fish etc. Particularly important in European Celtic art where they first started making an appearance in the Bronze Age.