Carve away

I am always asked for carving tutorials... well I haven't really had an opportunity to document a full carve. When you are in the moment you just forget to take photos. I can show a trick of two. This only works with sharp scrapers. If you are not peeling ribbons of wood it is not sharp enough. Bloodwood loves scrapers (if they are sharp).

Start our with the disk sander. I use a 5" disk in a hand drill. I have tried everything... nothing works as well for me. The 4" grinder cuts to fast... gouges can make a mess if you are not good... and I think the Router method is bunk (I hate routers). If you use the right foam backed disk you can cut with the edge. So you angle the drill until the 5" disk is creating a dish cut. This takes some practice... and you are likely to have high and low spots when you start. Cut to the edge.... not from the edge. I try to stay off router roundover and cut down to it, leaving a lip that I sand of later.

Here is what it looks like after a quick pass with the scraper. The idea is to follow the grain and lay a bit of an angle on the scraper until it is leaving a smooth surface. For a re-curve style carve the most important cut is the relief. The roundover at the top of the S is easy so don't focus on it. What we are trying to do is create a 1/4 of a circle that follows the edge of the body.



As the curve changes you rotate the scraper so the curve matches the carve.


Use the smaller end to clean up the horns.