Calamity Control:
Dave Western talk about making mistakes on your carvings and how to avoid them
Just once in my carving life, I would love to go from start to finish on a project without making some kind of mistake. Although many years of bitter experiences have helped me reduce the number of errors I now make, I would be a liar if I said that I ever manage to complete any carving without some sort of mess-up. I hope I can help my fellow carvers avoid some of the pitfalls I have careened into and can remedy any you do make.
An ounce of prevention
Although I risk sounding terribly patronising, there are very few real accidents or errors in woodcarving. You may occasionally encounter a piece of wood with hidden defects or you may have a tool misbehave due to faulty material, but for the most part, most carving blunders are completely of our own doing. Sadly, the following list is neither sexy nor exhaustive, but I hope reading through it will help you get a better grasp on the first phase of mistake correction… not making them in the first place!
Going too fast
Of all the mistakes generated in the woodcarving realm, I would hazard that carvers who simply work too fast cause the vast majority of their woes. In our rush to see progress, it is easy to mishandle the work piece and rush the cutting or lose concentration and cut too much or cut in the wrong area. I know because I’m as guilty as the next person of getting swept away by the excitement of ploughing through the wood, but it is always important to stay under control.
Carving beyond ability
This is a tough one as it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to take on a challenge and learn some lessons the hard way. The trick is to know where that ‘one step too far’ is and try your absolute best not to cross it. Carving too far beyond your capability will lead to frustration and that can lead to errors in both judgement and technique.
Pushing too hard
This error is often inextricably bound in with going too fast and not keeping tools sharp enough for the job at hand. You are always safer to take two or three shallow cuts than to try and push about a bit chunk in one pass. Combine pushing too hard with a dull tool edge and you have the perfect recipe for a carving disaster.
Dull tools
A dull tool is a very dangerous tool, both for the work piece and for the operator. Tools that are not in peak condition are more likely to leave ragged, unattractive cuts in their wake. They are also far more likely to be pushed too hard, which increases the risk of breaking through the cut and damaging the carving and injuring the carver.
Wrong tool
Often it is tempting to use the wrong tool to make a cut. Even though knives are versatile tools, they have their limitations as well as gouges and chisels. By using tools for purposes they were not designed for, you risk damage to the piece, the tool and even yourself.
Bad light
If you can’t see clearly then you run greater risk of cutting errors. Lighting that is too dark or too bright should be adjusted by the use of blinds or auxiliary lighting and if you require glasses for optimum vision. Don’t be too lazy or vain; put them on!
Working against the grain
If you are anything like me, you won’t be able to count the times you’ve split off an edge, torn up a section or got a tool jammed because you have cut against the grain. Wood is a capricious medium and its grain is seldom completely uniform. Take the time to learn each piece’s quirks and then try to work with them rather than against them.
A knife slip
With the sermon out of the way, let’s concentrate on what to do when the air is blue and your carving has been stricken. If the mistake is relatively minor, such as a small section chipped or a cut that has veered slightly over a line, then it may be possible to simply rework the design a bit to accommodate it. Carving is a pretty fluid endeavour, so making modifications and adjustments on the fly should be thought of as part of the process. More often than not, a refining cut repair will be unnoticeable.
Split spoon bowl
Sometimes, the mistake can be a bit more serious and glue repairs become necessary. If the piece is broken off cleanly then it can be glued back in place by a number of methods. Here a split bowl is repaired two different ways.
Small chip outs
Awkward breaks
Dealing with small cracks and blemishes
Dire straights
I always keep as many of the offcut pieces from my current carvings as I can. Hang on to them until the carving is complete as they can be an excellent source of material for patches if you need to affect a major repair. When a piece is broken and lost or the colour match is critical, a patch cut from the same board you are presently carving can be the perfect way to rescue an otherwise doomed project. No one ever wants to have to glue in whole sections, but if you have to do it then the job is always more pleasant when you have a piece that is of similar colour, grain pattern, weight, etc.
A carving mistake need not cause a coronary and it doesn’t have to signal the end of the line for your carving. Most are preventable, but when they do happen just stay calm and get out the glue and masking tape.