I’m curious to know how wood carvers are able to achieve the smooth finishes on their carvings. Is this achieved with sharp carving tools alone or is there significant sanding and fussing that goes on to achieve the final result. Many of the articles and books I have read focus on the rough carving and how to achieve certain shapes for the carved material but then they jump to the finished piece and it looks beautiful. My results, obvioulsy, are extremely poor in comparison.
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Replies
From the tool you should get a shiny surface. The carving will be faceted and these facets will be larger or smaller depending on your skill. These facets will diminish somewhat depending on the finishing process you use.
Practice, practice, practice...
I sand my work in the process of finishing but not to the extent that I'm shaping the modeling done by the carving tools. You need to play around...carve something and finish it. See what improvements you need to make during the modelling stage and go from there.
There are different styles of carving. Traditional work means little or no sanding. Power carving almost requires it. So a lot of what you're asking depends on the style you're doing.
Lee
Furniture Carver
Thanks Lee. I will have to practice sharpening my tools so they keep producing that nice shiny finish. I have done fairly well with chisels and and plane blades, now for the curved ones....
I would add that in my limited experience a lot has to do with the variety of wood being carved. Some woods simply leave nicer finishes after being cut with tools, and require less sanding, than others.
". . .and only the stump or fishy part of him remained."
Green Gables: A Contemplative Companion to Fujino Township
Sharp tools are a must and sometimes a little sanding. I like to leave my tool marks in, reason being is there are so many carvings that are now done on CNC and they have no facet's what so ever. I want people who see my work to know with out a doubt that it is hand carved. This applies more to arcitectural carvings I do. Relief carvings I do get sanded in areas or textured such as hair, trees, landscape etc.
Sculpture I do in the same manor with sanding and texture. A carving I am doing at this time is a mantel with Celtic Knots that wrap the entire front and sides. I like the looks of smooth knots so I will sand lightly and also stamp the backround. The under cutting on the knot work is deep enough so it doesn't look like something done on CNC so sanding will give me the desired finished look.
Glass smooth facet's give an incredible look and feel to a carving which I really like. Nora Hall from what I understand leaves all her carvings with the tool marks in. When you view her work you have no doubt it was done by a master carver. So I think it all comes down to what you are trying to achive with a particular carving.
Along with books, great places to view carvings are churches and museums also antique stores. Look at the carvings and you will get a feel for what would work well for the type of carving you are doing and complement your style.
Have Fun
Dale
Thanks for the reply. I think carving is one of the greatest challenges I face in my woodworking projects. It requires much more skill and artistic talent to end up with a quality product. I will take your advice and do more looking around at carving examples.
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