Woodcarving Made Easy......

OK. So it's not totally easy. It's another one of those "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" things. The answer is "Practice!". Since I have had an Exacto knife in hand since I was ten(with supervision) I should be able to do a decent job by now. There are definitely others that do it better, but I am passable. By the way, I no longer require supervision. Maybe sometimes I should have it, but not necessarily because I have an Exacto in my hand. I am of no danger to anyone else, only to myself. We won't talk about the time that I dropped the Exacto and it cut a small gash into my stomach. Oops! Apply butterfly bandage and go on with the carving........ I have done worse than that with a sewing machine needle. I once sewed a hole into my left index finger! Please don't tell anybody that I am accident prone. I will deny it as I apply the bandage to the appropriate area of my body.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. It is hard to teach woodcarving in a blog. I will show you a few photos to give you a vague idea about how I do it.

In a previous post I showed you how I transfer the pattern to the wood. Here you see that I am doing the "stop cuts". That is simply running the Exacto knife along all of the lines to make a vertical cut about 1/16" to begin. It can be cut deeper as needed while carving, a little bit at a time. You will notice that I didn't follow the pencil lines religiously. I made adjustments to the design as I went. Some leaves needed to be wider and some had to have a bit more or a bit less curve.

After I have this part done, I go back and start making side cuts. This is to carve away the area that I want recessed for background and leaves that I want to set back in the design further than the most prominent ones. Again, I do this a little at a time. You can carve the wood off, but it is very difficult to put back.......I guess you could do it with chips and glue, but it wouldn't be much fun. How do you do a good carving? Very carefully.

This part is almost like trying to slide the blade under a tiny slice of the wood. The point rests against one of the stop cuts and the rest of the knife just goes along for the ride. The trick is to try to keep it going for the length of the line that you are carving. You don't want to do a bunch of short cuts. That makes for a choppy looking carving.

The last photo shows the whole side piece carved and partially sanded. The left side of the photo is further along than the right.

I almost have half of the living room fireplace surround finished. Can you tell that I am stalling for time? This piece(3 pieces) is going to take a bit longer than the one that I just finished.

I started a little of the door carving. I quickly stopped. I am out of sharp blades. No way am I going to tackle walnut with a dull blade. I just may have to bead another tool handle until I get a new supply. The alternative is cleaning the workroom...........Guess which task will win?

See you tomorrow.