I will be starting a project in the near future (a reproduction of an oak Jacobean livery cupboard) that requires a substantial amount of carving. I have done some carving before, but in “easier” to carve woods — walnut, cherry, and basswood. I will be building this piece using only traditional hand tools.
I would be interested in any experiences, pitfalls, unique techniques, and so forth that might be useful in this project, and that perhaps would help me avoid some “learned it the hard way” kinds of mistakes.
Also, I have read that white oak is more suitable for carving than red oak. Any advice or experiences on this would also be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!!
James
Edited 3/3/2006 1:26 pm by pzgren
Replies
I carved some red oak a while ago. Just a small piece. It's hard wood and I used a mallet most of the time. Oak is grain direction sensitive. Going against the grain can cause some splintery break outs. When incising along the grain, the wood wants to pull your straight tools along with the grain. I thought it was difficult to make nice sharp intersections without over or under cutting. 90° walls, like around a border, were difficult because of the splitting. Paring cuts take a lot of strength, so, watch your fingers. I've bought some oak carvings like corbels and brackets for jobs. The people that carved these didn't seem to have any problems. I'm sure doing hundreds helps.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
you can try to take out small pieces at a time and take your time. instead of pulling out large amouts of wood to rush the project.
Hammer, Ayama,
Thanks for your insights and advice!
James
It is great for carving, hard if you are used to basswood. I like it. It will split along the grain sometimes so some final paring cuts should be made across the grain or downhill. Use the splitting to hog out large chunks of waste but make stop cuts before the splitting cuts. Keep tools sharp! Use small powerful wrist and twist motions (avoid big arm movements... unless you like going to the ER for stitches). It is very strong so you can use thin sections. Looks great when undercut. Try to get fairly straight smooth-grained pieces. Remember there are many species though they are all sold as white or red. Some will work much better than others... so don't fight a miserable piece... switch to a better one. Air dried is superior if you can find it. Green cuts easiest of all and will generally season out nicely if you use the LDD (liquid dish detergent) system. If you have access to tree timbers I have found that the softer oaks like post oak are poorer material. Good healthy looking trees generally produce better timber. Trees with broken off limbs and rotted piths or burrs are not as desirable as wood sources.
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