Harold's Blog at LumberJocks.com

more simple carving 2

Harold — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:58:56 GMT

Carving the curved letter section begins with the stop cut. I use a out cannel gouge that is close to the radius that has been layed out. If you don’t have an gouge close, you can work you centers down with a parting tool, or you can use the corner of your bench chisel to work carefully around the curve. when using your bench chisel, be aware of how deep your actualy cutting, just like before you can always clean up alittle deeper.
I will try and work the curves in 1/4 sections (90 degrees) turning the piece as needed to keep cutting downhill where possible. Now you won’t always be able to cut with the grain, but keeping your chisels SHARP and not trying to pop you chips up will help when working up hill.

Once I have my stops in I will begin carving. I use a bench chisel for the inside radius and a incannel gouge for the outside section.

I like the incannel gouge on the outside sections because it allows me hold the chisel at a much more comfortable angle and I feel like I can better anticipate where the I am cutting

Once I have the 95% of the curved letter section removed I will clean up the bottom with what’s left of my little carving knife. I have broken this thing many times but to be honest the shape it is now really seems to work for clean up

So I finished the lettering, which looks fine and then ran down stairs and removed some of the dead spaces on the bandsaw where possible and the rest with the coping saw and have begun the stop cuts that will outling the various curves in the flowers and leaves.
I also took a forstner bit and drilled a hole at the center of the flower.
I started the flower working aggressively towards the center

I will continue this until the rough shape is there, I will also try an remove any areas around the flower at this time so that I don’t damage the flower later

keep working down, defining the petals more as you work deeper

carve alittle more, I’m using the 1/4 ” gouge now to texture the petals

once I’m content with the flower, I’ll start working on the leaves and stem
and here’s where I am so far working on the leaves, cut the one leaf all the way off ( I some how roughed it in upside down and it would have been too deep to carve now, so I sawed it off. Don’t tell anybody)

Simple Carving

Harold — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:11:43 GMT

Much of the signage and carving I do is completed with a basic set of chisels and gouges and skills that most could duplicate with a little time. It isn’t necessary to be an accomplished artist, but you do have know what you like. As far as lettering, there are many different fonts available right on your computer. Taking advantage of this resource saves a great deal of time. The most common font used for carving I believe is Palatino, fairly straight line segments and a serif design that is easy to modify for carving. I will type the phrase or name I wish to carve and then resize this to the dimension I wish to carve. To do this you just click on the number to the right of the font style and enter the size you want. For example a font size of 350 will be roughly 2-1/2” tall. If you keep the rulers displayed you can adjust the font size and quickly see the changes. If this will be your first time, keep your font’s a little bigger, say 2-1/2” minimum and try them all upper case. ( uppercase letters typically have more straight lines ) You can use a slightly larger font for the capital or the first letter to emphasize these, say 350 for the field lettering and 425 for the first letter.

The example I am using is E Komo Mia, this is Hawaiian for welcome. Now one area where I have yet to complete on the computer is the lettering spacing. I will cut the letters apart and then tape them together to get a tighter more attractive overall appearance. This may be curving the phrase or realigning the capital letters to better “fit” the sign I want to complete. I will also try and identify those areas that may be difficult to carve and work my layout around these or to use them to accent the overall design.

I do draw a little so I just sketch a rough shape and lines into the open area, after I see the area I’m dealing with I will decide what would compliment the message. In this case I chose a stylized Hibiscus, which has been the state flower here in Hawaii since the 1920’s I believe. If you’re not comfortable with your drawing ability, there are many wonderful sketch books at the local book or art store. Borders, flowers virtually anything that you can think of, that can be easily traced onto your layout and then transferred to your work. So this is what I came up with

The tools I use most are the ¼, ½ chisels, a ¾ parting tool and a small apx. ¼ parting tool I ground out of a old round file. I like the old file simple because the steel is very hard and it is easy for me to re-temper the cutting edge over our gas stove. I also use a ¼ and ½ outcannel and a ½ incannel gouge

Now my secret tools are my Hock plane blades. I use these a lot just because I don’t have chisels that are that wide. If my letter will take a 1 ½ stop cut I will use these. You can place a piece of tape that will serve as a depth guide if you want on you chisel to keep you from cutting the stop cuts to deep. You can always clean up the bottom alittle deeper, but it really is a distraction if I get them to deep.

After I have completed the layout and drawn in my stop cuts I begin with the stops, using the tape to judge my depth and after a couple cuts I will have an idea of how many hits it takes for the depth I need for the various letter/line segment widths.
For example, I strike the blade 4 times for the 1/4 wide line segments and two times for the narrower lines, I am shooting for a finished depth of about 3/16 on the wide segments and just under an 1/8 on the narrow. These aren’t exact of course but just remember, as your letter becomes narrower it gets shallower as well.

After I have completed the stop cuts I will use the parting tool to create a small relief for the serifs. I do this because it gives the wood somewhere to chip when I begin cleaning up the serifs and I also helps reduce the chance of splits when carving against the grain or in figured wood.
Next I will begin carving out the body of the letters, try to keep a 30 degree angle. you can make a simple guide block if you like but you will quickly be able to keep your angle consistent.

if you have trouble maintaining the angle you will see small ridges in the side of your letters, this isn’t the end of the world and you can clean them up later. But keep working towards as few cuts as possible, the fewer cuts you make the smoother the sides of your letters will be.
I will make my first cut aggressively cutting almost to the bottom of the letter. This will allow the chip to pop out.
Typically I work across the carving from right to left, cutting all of one side, then flipping the carving and cutting the other. this just helps to maintain a consistent angle. After I have the letters roughed out I will then take the chisel and clean the remaining wood out of the angle.
So the body or the straight segements is three steps, your stop cut, your 30 degree right and left cut’s and finish cuts with light hand pressure. Keep you angle consistent and the cuts will look very smooth, if they don’t, then stop right now a go back and sharpen your chisels.
For the serifs I use a slice cut on each side, cutting just to the shallow relief made with the parting tool. after I have both sides removed I wil then use another slice to remove remaining chip. Work your way down to the right depth and pay attention to the grain in the final chip.

well this is all I have time for right now, it actually took me longer to type this than it does to carve, but I will keep at it. You know I don’t think hooked on phonics is all it’s cracked up to be.

The "Why"

Harold — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:57:38 GMT

Every project, every question is a journey. Aristotle used a simple chair as a metaphor explaining this. The four causes: the material, formal, efficient and the final. In the case of a chair, for example, the chair’s material cause would be its wood and cloth, its formal cause would be the structure or form given in its plan or blueprint, its efficient cause would be the worker who made it, and its final cause would be sitting.

The material cause, then, is that out of which a thing is made, what wood, what hardware. The formal cause is that into which a thing is made or our plan or blueprint. The efficient cause is that by which a thing is made, the craftsman and the tools used, and the final cause is that for which a thing is made.

Aristotle felt that of these four steps, the final cause was the most important. This “why” governs the others. It gives meaning and relevance to each step before. As a craftsman the “why” is our purpose, our role, our responsibility and our reward. Unfortunately so little time is spent understanding, the why.

My thought is that if we don’t take the time to truly understand why a thing is made, then we have no hope of our work being unique. Keep in mind, unique is not always a style, unique is actually our works relevance, has this “thing” achieved its purpose.

Understanding of our work is achieved at the end, for better or worse. I am sure Aristotle was using this example of a chair as a simple metaphor some 2500 years ago for some greater problem that faced civilization, but since I am a craftsman I like to think the work I do has always held importance for mankind.
So as you work on your design for the bookcase, don’t forget the why.

How to cut a straight line

Harold — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 02:05:21 GMT

This method may seem somewhat unusual but with time it will result in perfect cut.
I begin by warming 2 cups of water to approximately 110 degrees. To this you will add 2/3 cup of sugar and stir until dissolved. To the sugar water solution add 1 ½ tablespoons of a dry active yeast. Sprinkle the yeast into the water and then let it sit until the yeast begins to foam, this is referred to as “proofing your yeast”
Once the yeast has “proofed” you will add 1 ½ teaspoons of salt and ¼ cup of vegetable oil, stir this in and begin adding 6 cups of bread flour, all flour is not the same so you will have better results using bread flour. You will be able to stir in about 4 cups before you will have to begin kneading.
Dust a section of your counter top and turn the dough out, lightly dust the doughball and press firmly forward as if your were trying to stretch the dough, then turn the dough 90 degrees and fold towards your body and press forward again. Continue this until you have worked in all the flour. The kneading process will take anywhere from 5 to 7 minutes. After you have completed kneading the dough, oil a large dish liberally, this will prevent the dough from sticking as it rises. Place the dough ball in the dish and roll it to coat the entire surface. Place the loosely covered dish in a warm, draft free area to rise ideally 80 to 90 degrees. Check the dough periodically; what you are wanting is for the dough to double in size. Once the dough has doubled gently press the dough down and remove it from the bowl and place it on the counter top, divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and quickly shape and place it into three liberally oiled bread pans. I use a bread pan specifically because it gives me a flat surface from which to reference my cuts. This is a woodworking exercise remember.
After the dough has been placed in the pans, cover and let rise once again. Once the second rise has been completed, you place the unbaked loaves in a preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes. Somewhere around 20 minutes I will remove the bread and coat the tops with olive oil. This will help to firm up the crust and make it easier to begin our cuts.
Once the bread has baked, remove from the pans and let it cool. The aroma at this point is somewhat of a distraction but with time you will be able to resist the temptation.
Once cool I will sit the dough on a level cutting surface and begin my cut, paying careful attention to not press too hard as this will deform loaf as well as the cut, and will require an additional cut to get it perpendicular. When you are comfortable that you have cut a plumb/straight line turn the loaf on its end and check it with a square. Don’t get discouraged, it may take several cuts to find the perfect combination of downward force and cutting motion. I myself have went through a whole loaf, only to get that perfect cut at the heal. The only downside to this method of basic woodworking skill improvement exercise, is that homemade bread must be eaten soon after slicing, I have however calculated that the energy expended during the kneading process will more than offset any negative health concerns. I was taught this by my grandfather, although I didn’t understand the lesson at the time, his words today are undeniable, “if you can cut a straight and even slice of bread, you can cut anything”

I can recall watching him work, he never looked at the backside, he just knew it was right. Something’s just work, and when we skip a step, something’s just never will.