Carving a simple flower - no lathe

[Mike Henderson]

Jim Koepke asked me to post some pictures showing how to carve a simple flower. The pictures below show the progress boards I use when I teach beginners how to carve this simple flower.

Tools/supplies required:

Piece of 4/4 basswood, 12" long and 5 1/2" wide (the wood shown in the pictures is Spanish cedar - not the best carving wood)
2/5 gouge (gouge sizes are given in the Swiss system)
3/12 gouge
7/10 gouge
12/6 V-tool
Carver's mallet (optional)
Compass
Dividers
Pencil
Small ruler - perhaps 6 inches
Clamp to clamp down your work

See the picture. Begin by dividing your workpiece into two halves at the six inch mark. You'll only use half - the other half is for you to practice on after you do the first flower.

In that half section, draw lines from corner-to-corner to find the center of the workspace.

Using your compass, draw one circle about 5/8" in diameter (a little bigger is okay) and a second circle 3 1/4" in diameter (a little bigger is okay). Remember these measurements are diameter so divide them in half to set your compass.

[Mike Henderson]

Clamp down your work. This is very important. DO NOT try to carve on a loose piece - you'll wind up with your hand in front of the tool trying to hold the work and that, in turn, will put you in the emergency room.

Use your 7/10 gouge and outline the center circle. That means take the 7/10 gouge and lay it on the circle, and tap it LIGHTLY to make a cut into the wood. Shift the gouge and do it again until you've gone all around the cricle. If you wallop the gouge with your mallet, you'll wind up with broken wood.

Take your 2/5 gouge and cut towards your outline cut. You're making a relief cut here to allow you to cut deeper with the 7/10.

Shift to the outside circle and use the 3/12 to outline it. You can use the 3/12 to cut in towards your outline.

[Mike Henderson]

Now switch to your 7/10 for cutting in on both circles, but continue to use the 7/10 and the 3/12 to outline the circles (inner and outer, respectively). You want to cut down about 1/4" or so.

When you make your cuts in on the outer circle, try to align them nicely and have them going directly towards the center. You can use those cuts as a "starburst" to highlight your carving.

[Mike Henderson]

Switch to the 3/12 and smooth the area between the two circles. Also, dome over the center. Cutting that dome is tricky - it's easy to catch the wood and pull out a chunk. The way to do it is to cut downgrain. Start at the top and bottom of the center and cut towards the ends.

[Mike Henderson]

We have to decide here how many petals we want on the flower. I prefer an odd number because an even number is too symmetrical. Five is a good number that gives you an odd number without too much work. If you're ambitious, you can do seven.

Make a pencil mark somewhere along the outside circle. Use your dividers and trial and error to step off five equal spaces along the circle. You can usually hit it in three tries. Just remember when you adjust the dividers that your change will be multiplied five times by the time you get around the circle.

Once you find the proper division, go around the circle with the dividers and put a mark at each landing point. From each of those marks, draw a line towards the center with your small rule.

Take the 12/6 V-tool and cut inwards to the center. Go over the cut several times to make it deep enough to really show.

Next, we need to round the petals. Use your 7/10 and make some gentle cuts on the corners. Use the 2/5 to clean out the waste.

Take your 3/12 and hollow out the center of the petals slightly. This just adds a bit of interest to the flower. Then take your V-tool and cut three grooves in the petals, as shown.

The final step is to cross-hatch the center dome. Start in the center and cut down one side, then turn your work and continue the cut down the other side. Usually a total of five cuts each way works okay. You can't cut them too fine or the wood breaks up on you.

Finally, take some sandpaper, maybe 150 or 180 grit, and sand the petals to get the tool marks out. Finish with some 240 grit.

[Mike Henderson]

If you don't like the "starburst" look, you can use standard woodworking chisels to make a "frame" for the flower. Cut about 1/2" in from the edges, and cut the ground back to the depth of the flower.

I'll post a tutorial on doing this flower with a lathe later.

If you have any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them. Let's see some of your carved flowers now!!

[Jim Koepke]

I am on lunch break currently.

When I get home tonight, I will spend a bit more time with this and print it out.

Thanks again,

jim

[Mike Henderson]

Comments on the presentation of the material will be appreciated. Is it too complex, too simple, too trival a thing to carve, or...? Is it easy to understand or impossible to understand?

Since I was taking the pictures, I couldn't show tools being used (not enough hands).

And just an aside comment: it's always easier to learn carving with some in-person help - you can ask questions, you can see how tools are held and cuts are made.

Mike

[Jim Koepke]

Comments on the presentation of the material will be appreciated. Is it too complex, too simple, too trival a thing to carve, or...? Is it easy to understand or impossible to understand?

Since I was taking the pictures, I couldn't show tools being used (not enough hands).

And just an aside comment: it's always easier to learn carving with some in-person help - you can ask questions, you can see how tools are held and cuts are made.

Mike

For a beginner like me, it seems just about right. One does not start carving/woodworking with a Newport style chest as the first project even though that is an ambition one may harbor for the future.

I was having a little difficulty understanding the angles of attack (cut) but I think I am sort of getting it.

I was wondering why tools and their angles of cut were not shown. It would make things easier to understand.

I do know the difficulty of taking such pictures. One of the things I have done at work is write a manual for working on some of our equipment. Here are a couple of pictures from that piece of work.

First is one that had people wondering about something not being quite right.

The second one has the wrench (1/4 inch) held captive and the screwdriver is propped up on a support.

I did not have a tripod and some of the tool use pictures were shot one handed with my other hand holding the tool.

jim

[Charlie Schultz]

Mike,
Thanks a bunch - I hope to try it this weekend. Offhand, I'd say the level of detail is about right and the project is certainly not too trivial for a beginner. I have a small collection of carving tools I got from my Dad. They are not marked and they are not a set (i.e. they are all different makes). What's a good way to figure out the sizes (i.e. is this a 3/12 or a 7/10 gouge or ??)?

[Sam Yerardi]

Great posts & a great idea for this forum, Mike.

[Garry McKinney]

Mike ,

It works well. I had a peice of scrap cherry so I decided to try your directions, I didn't complete the full background , no sanding , but the instructions work well. About 35 min, the results.

Still a bit rough but I thought you would like to see it.

Garry

[Mike Henderson]

That looks great, Garry. You're a natural.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

Mike,
Thanks a bunch - I hope to try it this weekend. Offhand, I'd say the level of detail is about right and the project is certainly not too trivial for a beginner. I have a small collection of carving tools I got from my Dad. They are not marked and they are not a set (i.e. they are all different makes). What's a good way to figure out the sizes (i.e. is this a 3/12 or a 7/10 gouge or ??)?

The second number is easy - that's just the width of the gouge in mm. Just get yourself a metric rule and measure them.

The sweep number is much more difficult because a #7 by one maker may not be the same sweep as a #7 by another maker. About the only thing you can do is take your gouges to someone who has a fairly complete set by a single maker and match the sweep.

The best thing is to figure out which brand you're going to buy in the future and match to that. I expect if you explain things to one of the wood stores (like Woodcraft or Rockler) they'll let you match to their gouges in store. Note that you have to match like to like - so if you have a 10mm gouge, you have to match it to other 10mm gouges. If you try to match to a 25mm (for example) the sweep will not be the same and you'll mark them incorrectly. A #7/10 is not the same circle as a #7/25.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

For a beginner like me, it seems just about right. One does not start carving/woodworking with a Newport style chest as the first project even though that is an ambition one may harbor for the future.

I was having a little difficulty understanding the angles of attack (cut) but I think I am sort of getting it.

I was wondering why tools and their angles of cut were not shown. It would make things easier to understand.

I do know the difficulty of taking such pictures. One of the things I have done at work is write a manual for working on some of our equipment. Here are a couple of pictures from that piece of work.

First is one that had people wondering about something not being quite right.

The second one has the wrench (1/4 inch) held captive and the screwdriver is propped up on a support.

I did not have a tripod and some of the tool use pictures were shot one handed with my other hand holding the tool.

jim

Funny you should say that about a Newport style chest, because my first project after carving school was a Newport style chest. See here.

I'll try to get my wife to take some pictures of my holding the tools in the various cuts to help illustrate what's actually being done.

Mike