tips and patterns
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carving patterns
tips
Tips for Beginning Carvers
How to make a cheap and easy knife blade protector
Safety:
RULE #1: Never cut toward open skin!
RULE #2: Wear a glove on your non-carving hand. Get a good glove. Gloves will not totally protect your hand but will deflect blows when the tool slips off the wood.
Wear a thumb guard when using your knife to remove wood with the cutting stroke. That is, when you are pulling the knife toward your thumb.
Wear an apron. This will help protect yourself when you drop a tool.
Keep your tools sharp. A dull tool has a tendency to "jump" off the wood instead of cutting into the wood. This "jump" can result in a nasty cut
tools
It's best if the beginning carver doesn't spend a lot of money on buying all types of different tools until the carver becomes more familiar with their use. The following list is a good beginning.
Bench Knife: Carving knives come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. The metal in a carving knife should be hard enough to hold an edge and soft enough to allow you to re-sharpen or return an edge easily to the cutting edge. Steel with a high carbon content and with the right hardness make very good carving knives. You should buy from a reputable dealer and don't skimp on price. This is your basic carving tool and you will have it in your hand for long periods of time.
Experience will teach you about what shape blade you will use but start out with a short blade about 1" or 1 1/2" long with a comfortable handle. Later on you will want to add other lengths and shapes to your tool box. You should buy 2 knives immediately because you may break one and you will want a backup.
V-TOOLS: V-tools are called v-tools because the cutting edge is shaped like a 'V.' This tool is used to make hair, beard and other cuts that require a channel-like cut with straight sides. This tool comes is various widths (measured from tips of v) and degree of v. The degree of the v determines the angle of cut. A 90 degree v would have a much wider slope of cut than a 25 degree v. A very useful tool and probably the next tool you should buy after a knife. Size is determined by type and size of carving you are doing.
GOUGES Gouges are really chisels that have curved cutting edges. This curvature is called "sweep." The higher the number, the deeper the curve or sweep. In other words, a straight chisel would be a #1 sweep and a deeper shaped gouge would a 5, 9 or 11 or whatever. The width of the blade is measured in inches or mm. Gouges are either palm gouges or a mallet gouge. A mallet gouge has a collar as a part of the shank so that the gouge is not driven into the handle when the gouge is hit with the mallet. Mallet gouges usually have a shorter bevel than a palm gouge.
VEINER or U-GOUGE: The veiner or u-gouge is a u-shaped gouge used to cut u-shaped channels in the wood. It is used for under cutting as under the mouth to make the lower lip standout. A small veiner is also used for hair and beard where a softer look is desired. A valuable addition to your toolbox.