# Fan Carving



## woodydixon (Aug 18, 2019)

Back to carving queen anne fans on drawer fronts. Using cherry first one went fine, smooth surface especially after smoothing with gun scraper and riffler. Second was entirely different. Wood tended to splinter, gouge on top of fan left series of parallel lines and surface was rough. Tried to smoothe and wood got worse, whole surface looked scratched and cloudy/ The wood for the second drawer was different cherry, darker, maybe drier and older than the first. This has got me puzzled to say the least. Anybody else had this problem or have any ideas what to do? Thanksl.

Woody Dixon


----------



## Phil32 (Aug 31, 2018)

Wood (even from the same species) can be highly variable. Just like knitting yarn or fabric, it is often wise to choose wood from the same source lot. It sounds like the variation you encountered with cherry was mostly moisture content. Some carvers spray overly dry wood with an equal parts mixture of alcohol & water. It is also possible that your carving tools were less sharp when you worked on the second drawer.


----------

