Friday, December 24, 2010

Some Thoughts on Acquiring a Skill


Some Thoughts ...

How many times have we heard someone say, I wish I had the talent to paint (or to carve wood or play music or whatever) but talent isn't the answer and in my opinion,  the word should be stricken from the language. Talent only allows a person to learn something faster than he would otherwise. One of the problems with learning any skill is that there is a lot of things that you have to learn. 

I look at it like this.  Every student in any discipline must face two things if he wants to learn.  The first thing is humiliation.  In a teacher - student relationship, the teacher knows far more than the student.  It's like basic training in the army.  When the drill sargeant says to move, you move. Once past the first shock of humiliation he has to deal with it on a continuing basis and the student is faced with acquiring a whole lot of skill-sets he does not have. 

  The second thing the student has to face is frustration.  The teacher has the power to correct and to judge and that entails a certain power over the student.   It will take time and a lot of effort to learn the necessary skill-sets.  There were be failures and the student has to be able to accept the failures for what they are, necessary steps to acquire the knowledge of the craft.  

This is the same process that any student has to go through whether you are talking about ninth grade history, calculus 101 or wood carving.  I wish someone had taught me this when I was a kid.  I wish the teachers I had in school knew this!

Learning is hard!    

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Bench Hook in Action

The improved bench hook in the previous post did not show the actual device so a photo is included here.  Note, at the bottom left corner of the bench hook is the lock, shown in the rotated position.  By rotating the lock counter clock-wise it is possible to use the bench hook, flat in a normal position. 

Also note that the stop at the bottom has been replaced with two smaller stops that can be rotated to accomodate ovals.

The angle formed by the top of the bench hook and the work bench is about 28 degrees, which seems about right.  When applying a lot of pressure during carving, a c-clamp is used on the hold down as shown at the bottom right of the photo.

Improved Bench Hook

It was suggested to me by Arlie that my bench hook would work better if some how it could be at a slant.  He pointed out that normal lighting, being from above, casts shadows that are the secret of relief carvings and that it would be beneficial for the carver to see the work in progress as it would be shown.

So with a little dilligence, the following resulted:



The purpose of the hold down lock is to keep the hold down against the top of the work bench.  By rotating the lock 90 degrees, the bench hook can be used flat like a normal bench hook.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Reference Lines in a Perspective Drawing

How to Create Reference Lines

Often, in the process of carving in relief, it is desired to texture the depiction of buildings. Drawing reference lines can help in determing the shape and the alignment of singles, siding, windows, doors etc. In a perspective drawing, parallel lines are drawn to meet in a vanishing point. There are three different types of perspective drawings, namely one point, two point and three point perspective.


One can use a long straight edge and experimentally determine where the vanishing points are. By rotating the straight edge about the vanishing point, reference lines can be established for the carving.

Another way of determining reference lines is as follows. Let's say that it is desired to draw lines on the roof of a building indicating shingles or roofing.





  • Lay a ruler along edge of the roof and rotate the ruler until some convienent number of steps aligns with the peak of the roof and the edge as in step 1. In the example shown a scale ruler was used but any convienent ruler will do. The steps can be in 1/16's or 1/8's or even in millimeters. Step one  shows the scale with 0 at the edge of the roof and 19 at the peak with steps of 3/32  inches per step.
  • At every division place a dot where it is desired to have a reference line.
  • Go to the opposite end of the roof and do the same thing. The ruler will have to rotated slightly because one side will be smaller (or larger) than the first side. Line up the same divisions as before (0 and 19 in this case) and mark with a dot.
  • Connect the corresponding dots creating a series of reference lines.

The reference lines can now be uses as a guide to carve or burn detail into the relief carving.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

A Bench Hook for Relief Carving

One of the problems faced by any wood carver is: How to secure the wood while carving on it.  A bench hook can be made that holds the work surprisingly secure.  By using the bench hook in lieu of holding it by hand, the carver runs less risk in cutting oneself.  Also, both hands can be used, making it easier to make precise cuts.

To make a bench hook you need the following items:

  • 3/4 inch plywood, sized to fit the work
  • Several pieces of 1 by stock
  • A few 1 1/2 inch screws
  • 1 - 2 inch by 2 inch by 10 inches (for 2 wedges)
Basicly a bench hook consists of a piece of plywood with a stop on either side (bottom and top).  The bench hook is placed on the work bench so that the stop on the bottom rests against the side of the work bench.  The second second stop on the other side of the plywood will have the work piece placed against it.  A clamp can be used to secure the bench hook to the bench if a lot of force is to be used on the tool.

In this version a second stop is added to the bench hook.  The 2 by 2 is ripped on a diagonal to provide two wedges which are used in opposition to hold the work piece in place.  If the work piece is in the shape of an oval, two smaller stops are used in place of one of the stops.  The smaller stops should be free to rotate to accommodate the oval.

To accommodate different sizes of work pieces, blocks can be added between the stop and the work piece.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Sharpening Tools

Some thoughts about the sharpening and the use of tools
  1. Protect your edges from being damaged. You have worked hard to achieve a fine edge on your tools. Don't lay them down where they will contact other tools and get damaged.
  2. Protect yourself from your tools. If you lay down a tool, do so with the edge away from you.  When storing or transporting tools keep the edges from coming in contact with flesh. The edges are sharp!
  3. A good rule is to only have one tool out at a time that you are working with.
  4. To sharpen a new tool or one that has been abused, progress from shaping (coarse abrasives) to sharpening (medium, fine) to honing (very fine, strop), maintaining the same angle through out. Tools which had been sharpened in the past may need only a touch up.  The point you have to go back to (coarse, medium, fine, very fine abrasive) depends on the condition of the tool.
  5. The bevel on the tool is most critical.  The thinner a bevel, the sharper it is but also at the same time a thin bevel is more fragile.  
  6. A "feather edge" or a "wire edge" is created when it is time to switch from a coarser abrasive to a finer one.  This means the whole edge or that part you want sharp.
  7. Examine the tool from time to time to see how you are doing.  Listen to your tool.  It can tell you a lot.
  8. When sharpening a tool, think of using a rake in a sand box.  Coarse abrasives put grooves into the steel, finer abrasives produce less scratching.  Two surfaces coming together to form an edge that have grooves in them cannot produce a fine edge. 
  9. A "feather edge" may feel sharp but contact with wood will break off the edge and you will have an instantly dull tool. The "feather edge" must be honed off.
  10. Honing results in bevels that are real shiny. This means that the surface variations in the steel approach the wavelength of light.
  11. Do not test the edge by running your finger on the edge.  Not only is it dangerous but it is a poor way of testing the edge. Test the edge by cutting a thin slice off the end grain of a soft wood like white pine or basswood.  The resulting cut should be smooth and polished.
  12. Hard steel will take and keep an edge longer than milder steel.  A properly sharpened tool will stay sharp for a long time.  A little stropping from time to time will maintain the edge.  However, too much stropping will cause the edge to round over and become less sharp.
If buying tools look for Rockwell hardness HRC 59 to HRC 62. The hardness of a material is measured by a machine invented by Hugh (and Stanley) Rockwell and uses the principal of differential depth measurements.

Recommendations for different bevels:
  • 15 to 20 degrees - Knife  
  • 15 to 20 degrees - Gouges, v-tools to be used by pushing
  • 20 to 25 degrees - Gouges used with a mallett
For tools with two bevels like a knife or a straight chisel, the bevel on each side is half of the total bevel.