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Jim,

I guess I wasn't very clear about that part.

When I put the pattern on, the whole piece is sealed with a varnish based sanding sealer.
Then I do the cutting. Then the cut part gets...

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It's no fun to post if a bunch of people visit and no one even leaves even a "Hi, How are you"
I'm just saying . . . . . . . . .

...

After I apply the stain, I remove the excess from the surface by scraping it of with a kolrosing knife. This allows me to make minor adjustments to the surface using the stain color to even out...

I started this last evening and took some pics along the way.
It is a wine bottle holder, in butternut and is chip carved.

Actually, this carving was made in basswood last week as a gift for...

Here is a simple spoon with an acanthus leaf.
Butternut

I get the spoon blanks from Tim Higginson in Iowa.
Really good quality blank for the money.
(yeah, blatant plug, but Tim deserves it,...

Derek,

I am not saying that the chip carving knife is the best tool for all lettering.
There are 214 chisels and gouges in my drawer, no one tool is the best for everything.

In the original...

I am getting to the point of finishing this little project.
The two pictures show the back with the lettering and then the love birds on the front.
There is additional lettering that goes on the...

You are welcome.

Yeah, latex paint pretty much serves to gum up the works.
It covers the carving marks and doesn't look natural at all.
A good quality stain gives a much better net result.
...

If you really want to do lettering, and do it well, then get a good quality chip carving knife, learn to sharpen it and keep it sharp, and then layout and practice lettering for 15 minutes a day for...

Thanks.

The reverse staining is quite simple, albeit a bit tedious.



Put the pattern on the piece
Use a sanding sealer and cover the entire piece, pattern and all
Do the carving
...

Just a nice little gift I think.
Seems to have turned out ok.
Can't go wrong with any variation on the acanthus, really.

Basswood, reverse-stained chip carving.
Original pattern design....

Some Carving knives I put together.
Blades are O1 with a true distal grind, single bevel and mirror finish.
The blades were made by a friend of mine here in Ohio
Handles are India Sambar Stag,...

I do very little sanding.
Instead, do it the old fashioned way, scrape the carved part.
In the days before sandpaper, the apprentices would scrape the wood with a sharp tool to remove the tool...