Well today I had sharpened knives on hand & decided to try my hand again at developing some carving skills on some Aspen.
The photo on the left is similar to the one in the previous post. I though I might do better the second time. - no improvement, actually worse, especially the bottom one compared to before.
In the center photo I was encouraged a bit, but it was an easier carve - not so many small arcs.
The photo on the right is my first attempt at letters. Only so-so on the smaller set at top - had the most difficulty on the turns, especially cross grain.
Then I tried the same fonts, but to a much larger scale. Disaster - should have been easier.
Some observation, thoughts & questions:
- I find it very difficult to carve a side in one slice. I have to re-cut 1-2 times more depending on the depth.
- Cutting 1-3 times per face of cutting leaves a significant amount of "residue and false faces" to trim & clean up which is difficult to do. I haven't developed a good way to make it look like one cut, especially on the deeper cuts. Looks like ****
- I try to perceive the intersection point of the two cut faces but the deeper cuts still give me trouble.
- I find the My Chip Carving Knife comfortable to hold & use on straight & slightly arced lines & larger curves, and the more pointed Ramelson Angled chip cutting knife more user friendly in tight curves.
- However, when I do the tight curves (1/8" dia.) I basically hold the knife almost upright on the tip and rotate the work piece. It is not a slice, or drawn cut per se, more of a pivot cut by holding the knife stationary & rotating the knife around the point..
- Unfortunately this has caused the small point of the tip to break off, no larger than 1/64" which then requires resharpening & stropping. The steel is made of 1095 steel hardened to Rc 58-62 which I think is good.
- This also tends to break off a chip of wood.
- I usually strop about every 10-15 minutes.
- Bottom line is that I haven't developed a technique for making single clean cuts.
OK, now that I've bared my soul what suggestions are there that would get me on track to quality work besides a lot more practice. I do want this to work.