Peter Benson begins his series by telling us the processes, start to finish, in carving…
I will be looking at the techniques required to carve a basic carving from start to finish. While the techniques covered will be specific, they will give the carver a basis upon which to develop and perfect the sorts of skills that will serve well in future projects. Much of what I cover will be old hat to many carvers and I apologise for repeating what they already know, but there will always be new enthusiasts who buy this magazine in the hope that they will learn something to help them on their way.
Many new carvers are understandably keen to carve something specific as their first project. Sometimes having no experience with carving tools beforehand can be frustrating and disheartening when they encounter all sorts of problems along the way because of their inability to get the best of the tools they are using. If you wish to approach carving with the minimum of expense, you would be advised to start with knife carving or whittling. You only need a knife, safety gloves and a suitable piece of wood and you are on your way.
If you prefer to go with traditional carving gouges and mallets you will need to have a basic set of tools, a mallet, something to hold your work securely and some means of keeping the tools sharp. This can involve a fair amount of expense but what you buy, if it is of good quality, will be a good investment as most reputable manufacturers offer an unconditional lifetime guarantee with their tools so they should retain their value.
Starting with a selection of around six tools should be sufficient for most carvings. I don’t advise that you buy a set of tools unless you know exactly what you are buying and know you will use all tools in the set. I have come across sets that contain tools that I have never found a use for in a lifetime of carving. What are the best tools to buy then?
I suggest a roughing out gouge, No.6, 18mm; a No.4, 12mm; a No3. 7or 8mm; a No.5, 8mm; a No.9, 8mm, and a No.9 or 10, 3mm. If you are confident with your sharpening techniques you might like to include a 6mm 60° V-tool. This is my recommendation and may well be different from other carvers, but in the end the choice is yours.
Tool selection
To clarify the classification of tools the following may help you: gouges, from No.3to No.9, (No.3the shallowest sweep and No.9 the deepest) conform to the London pattern and will all scribe a circle if placed end on to the surface of a piece of wood and twisted. A No. 10 and 11 is a No.9 sweep with extended sides, giving a greater depth of cut. No.1 and No.2 are straight and skew chisels respectively.
All these tools can be obtained with straight-sided blades or as fishtails with a tapered blade. All sizes refer to the width of the blade except for the V-tools where the size is the length of each of the cutting edges. Information about the rest of the classification can be found on charts that are readily available should you require them.
Any tools that you buy should come already sharpened and honed so you will only need to keep them honed to maintain the edges. This can be done on a leather strop; a piece of MDF shaped to the profile of the cutting edge or a bench grinder with the direction of rotation reversed and fitted with a hard felt and rag wheel.
Whichever method you choose you need to practice to maintain a flat bevel on the tools and do this regularly. I recommend honing after every 30 minutes or so of use.
Before embarking on your first masterpiece you need to be confident that you can make each tool do what you require of it. Carving an egg shape, or something similar, can be a good practice especially if you carve one or more holes in it. You will use nearly all of your tools and should find out exactly what you can do with them.
One small tip here – cabinetmakers and carpenters tend to prefer working with the grain of the wood so they can get a superior finish. Carvers, however, generally prefer to work across the grain as this reduces the likelihood of the wood splitting. You can cut right up to a line without the cut running ahead of the cutting edge of the tool. The waste you are removing also drops away easily rather than having to be cut away.
While each tool in your toolbox may have a specific purpose there is actually little limit to what each one can do. I will be trying to show how much can be achieved by exploring the capabilities of your tools and understanding that by applying these, the whole carving process can be easier as well as more enjoyable.