by Roger Schroeder

There are probably as many clamping methods as there are carvers because every carver holds his or her own carving differently. But most have very similar roots—and are based on a few simple ideas.

Holding

Unless you are planning to hold your carving in one hand and carve with the other, you will need some way to stabilize your project.  Holding devices are essential if you plan to use a mallet and chisel or if the piece is too small or delicate to hold easily. Fortunately, there are many commercially available options to secure your work for carving.

Carver’s Vise

A carver’s vise is a great investment for any carver. Before purchasing one, check whether it is adjustable in all three axes. That means you can position the project side to side as well as up and down and from front to back. Also investigate the vise’s gripping power and slippage. There must be enough surface on the mounting plate, or between the jaws, to accommodate the carving so that it doesn’t move when worked on, especially if a mallet is used.

Carver’s Arm

Long before manufactured holding and clamping fixtures came into being, the carver’s arm dominated. Designed like the human arm—hence, the name—to bend at a hinge point, the wood components provide the up-and-down positioning. To allow the project to be rotated from side to side, a separate carver’s screw is used at the end of the arm.  A carver’s arm is not difficult to make—I recommend maple—but reasonably priced arms can be purchased through catalogs.

Alligator Clips

Alligator clips have probably been around since Doctor Frankenstein hooked up his monster for a cosmic jolt. When mounted on a bar attached to a base, they become indispensable for holding delicate objects. If you are a carver who needs a third or even fourth hand, grab the alligator clips. I’ve seen clothespin-looking gadgets with two alligator clips attached, and I’ve come across devices with three clips.  Just make sure the clip or clip base is securely held to keep it from toppling over.

Machinist’s Vise

I suspect that several generations of carvers have used a machinist’s vise to hold a project. To protect the wood and the tools from the jaws, strips of a soft wood have to be attached. If a fancy carver’s vise is not in the budget, and there’s that machinist’s vise inherited from dad, try out a new accessory called Soff Jaws. Cushioned pads ³/8” thick cover magnetic strips that keep the pads in place. They really work.

Clamping to Join

Clamps are generally used to join two pieces of wood together. Carvers will often laminate wood for a large carving, but there are times when irregularly shaped pieces need to be added to compensate for an area that was mistakenly removed or to fill in a bad spot.

Rubber Bands

Irregularly shaped objects are sometimes impossible to clamp with anything but a piece of elastic rubber.  I usually have to hunt around in a pile of rubber bands to find one that offers just the right amount of stretch. When more “squeeze” is required, I apply two rubber bands or double up a single one.

Web Clamp

Another tool that serves a purpose similar to the rubber band is the web clamp. Wrap a length of nylon webbing around a project in need of gluing, and pull the webbing taut with a ratchet mechanism—a surprising amount of pressure can be exerted.  An advantage of the web clamp is that one wrap offers much more clamping area than a single rubber band.

Clamping to Hold & Join

There are many devices developed specifically for holding your work in progress or for joining wood. But some clamps, both old standbys and  newcomers, are better designed for getting a good grip on the work. And a  few are capable of both holding and joining.

C, Quick-Change, Spring, and Toggle Clamps

When carving a small relief panel, either a pair of C, spring, quick-change or toggle clamps will hold the wood to my workbench.

C clamps are old standbys to many carvers, and I have about a dozen in my shop, with openings that range from about 1″ to 12″.

But there’s a lot to be said about quick-change clamps, since C clamps require a lot of effort and time to open and close. Slide the jaws of a quick-change clamp together and simply squeeze the pistol grip to tighten them; to release the pressure, pull a trigger. I’m particularly impressed with two other features. One is the soft jaws that protect a delicate project or finish. The other is the ability to tighten or release a clamp with a single hand in a matter of seconds.

The one downside to the tool is slippage and clamping pressure. Using a mallet sets up vibrations that tend to weaken the grip.  And don’t expect to glue up panels or other laminated projects when using polyvinyl acetate glues. Quick-change clamps do not provide the needed pressure for a good bond.

Another tool that opens and closes quickly is the spring clamp. With protective polyvinyl handles and tips, they comes in mini-sizes, offering a clamping force of only a few pounds. But beefier cousins with an opening of an impressive 4″ are available that will exert as much as 35 pounds of force.

Toggle clamps combine a rubber-tipped hold-down with a lever handle. Push the handle down or pull it up, and the hold-down locks in place. The problem with these tools, and the ones described above, is that they get in the way of the project. Consider using a long backing board that the project can be screwed to. The clamps grip the board and stay well out of the way.

Bar and Pipe Clamps

A rectangular section of steel, the bar clamp has a fixed head with an adjustable screw and an adjustable tail slide. These devices were the only game in town for generations until they fell into disfavor for several reasons: Set lengths—most commonly 4 and 6-footers—had to be purchased; the clamps were expensive; and there was the advent of the pipe clamp.

Also consisting of head and tail pieces, the pipe clamp fits any available length of ³/4“-diameter pipe threaded on one end. Screw the head in place; slide the tail, which has a disc clutch to keep it from moving, onto the pipe; and the clamp is ready.

Carvers doing small figures use pipe and bar clamps as holding fixtures. To use, simply grip the project between the jaws, and tighten the clamp down in a vise. Another take on the vise would be to attach a flange to the bottom of the pipe. Bolt the flange to your workbench, and you’re on your way.

Watch your tools when using a metal clamp to hold your work—one false move will give you a nicked blade!

The new “fast action” design brings bar clamps up to date. A typical fast-action bar clamp consists of one fixed jaw and one sliding jaw with a ball-joined shoe at the end of a handle and screw.  After the two jaws close on a project, the handle is turned, which locks the moveable jaw in place.

At my favorite home improvement store I find fast-action bar clamps with openings as little as 4″ and as much as 50″. But more important than length is the depth of the throat. C clamps, by comparison, rarely have a “reach” of more than a few inches. Typical medium-duty fast-action clamps, however, have a reach of 7″ with openings ranging from 18″ to 48″. For holding wide panels to my workbench or glue-joining wide blocks of wood, I gravitate to short but deep-throated bar clamps.

There’s a clamp for every project, with many available at your favorite home improvement center or hardware store. Most won’t tax your budget. So don’t be afraid to get a grip on a few good tools that will last a lifetime. They’re worth the investment.

About the Author

Roger Schroeder, of Amityville, N.Y., is a retired teacher, accomplished author, and the founding editor of Woodcarving Illustrated.

This article first appeared in Woodcarving Illustrated Spring 2006 (Issue 34).

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by Charles Brown

This article was first published in issue 34 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

The dimensions of the lapboard depend on a couple factors; I made mine to fit comfortably in my easy chair. Your physique and available materials also play a part in your dimensions.

Step 1: Cut out your keystone pieces. Set your table saw or miter saw to cut at a 5° angle. Make your first cut. Flip your piece end over end. Mark your piece so the long dimension will be 1³⁄4” and make another cut. Continue cutting until you have 16 keystone pieces. I used several pieces of scrap; that way it keeps your hands away from the saw blade. Leave the two end pieces a little longer.

Step 2: Glue up the semi-circle rail. Place these keystone pieces side-by-side. Flip them back and forth until they form the semi-circle. The two long pieces will be your end pieces. Glue and clamp the pieces together, starting on one side. Work your way over to the other side.

Allow the glue to dry, and sand it smooth.

Step 3: Assemble the lapboard bottom. Edge-glue the two pieces together. Trace the semi-circle rail onto the bottom, and mark the end pieces of the rail. Cut out this semi-circle with a scroll saw, bandsaw, or jigsaw and trim the ends of the rail to fit. Sand the cutout to fit the rail.

Step 4: Assemble the lapboard. Glue and nail the sides, back, and compartment to the bottom, as shown in the diagram. Glue and nail the semi-circle rail in place. Trim the end pieces to match the bottom. Note:

I left an opening to rest my arms on and to use as a cleanout. It is possible to add front pieces to completely enclose the lapboard. After assembly, I suggest you round over all edges for comfort.

Step 5: Apply your finish of choice. It is possible to leave it natural, but if you apply polyurethane, it will be easier to clean up.

Materials & Tools

Materials:

• 2 each ³⁄4” x 9″ x 28¹⁄2” pine (bottom)
• 2 each ³⁄4” x 1⁵⁄8” x 18″ pine (side rails)
• 2 each ³⁄4” x 1⁵⁄8” x 27″ pine (back rail and front of compartments)
• 2 each ³⁄4” x 1⁵⁄8” x 3″ pine (compartment dividers)
• 2 each ³⁄4” x 1⁵⁄8” x 15″ hardwood of choice (see Step 1—keystone pieces)
• Wood glue of choice
• 8d finishing nails
• Assorted grits of sandpaper

Tools:

• Sander
• Jigsaw, bandsaw, or scroll saw
• Table saw or miter saw

Patterns:

• Dimensions

About the Author

Charles Brown of Cincinnati, OH, is the winner of the 2005 Woodcarving Illustrated Poor Man’s Tool Contest with his home-made “lapboard.” With this lapboard, you can carve mess-free anywhere—Charles says you can take your carving out of the basement and carve in the comforts of your easy chair. Flip it over, and it becomes a handy portable writing table. Charles won $100 for his winning entry.

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by Mike Burton

This article was first published in issue 34 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

When doing any type of full-form sculpture, holding the work can pose a challenge. To meet this need, I’ve developed a rotating vise that will meet many holding challenges.

This simple device consists of two shafts.  One is tapered to a point and one ends in a spur center.  You could think of it as a lathe without a motor, except that on the spur-center shaft a large washer is placed to provide friction against the bearing block to prevent unwanted rotation.

The Vise in Use

In order to use this vise, you need to plan ahead when you are roughing out the project. If you plan to cut out the blank on a band saw, you may need to leave tabs on each end to accommodate the vise. These tabs can be cut off in the final stages of carving, and the area left can be carved using another means of support (lashing a project to a 2 x 4 with an Ace^® bandage provides gentle but firm holding).

Center your project in the vise, and tighten the point shaft.  Then, give the end of the spur shaft that protrudes from its bearing block a firm blow with a hammer. This will firmly seat the spur. When carving, loosen the point shaft before rotating.

As you carve, keep your pressure or mallet blows in line with the shafts or perpendicular to your bench top at the upper center of your project. Keep in mind the project is prevented from rotating by the friction washer only. Heavy pressure to the sides of the axis of the shafts can cause unwanted rotation. There will be times when such pressure can’t be avoided.  In these instances, provide extra support beneath the wing block, as shown above.

A Word on Soldering

CAUTION: All soldering should be carried out in a well-ventilated area. In no way should the galvanized components become discolored, indicating too much heat. This means the galvanizing zinc is burning and releasing harmful fumes. Remember, you are working with very hot items that can cause burns if handled.  Also, this is a “safety glasses” operation.

The pieces to be soldered should rest on a non-flammable, insulating surface.  Firebrick is an excellent choice, but scraps of drywall will work. To prevent drywall paper from burning during soldering, take the top layer of drywall outdoors, and in a safe place, standing upwind, burn off the top layer of paper.

Clean all areas of the joint with steel wool, fine sandpaper, or a wire brush, and apply a thin coat of flux. Before applying any heat, cut a small piece of solder, and place it near a joint.  Heat all components to be joined evenly and slowly. If you melt the tiny piece of solder, and it blows off the assembly, you are heating too fast. Back the torch away. When the tiny piece flows, the joint is hot enough. Add more solder from the coil, taking care not to disturb the position of the components.

Let all soldered assemblies cool naturally. This could take 15 minutes or more.   

Making the Vise

Materials & Tools

Materials:

• 2 each 2″ x 4″ x 8’ studs (select ones that are as straight and knot-free as possible)
• 14 each 2¹⁄2” drywall screws
• 2 each 1″ drywall screws
• 1″-diameter steel washer
• ³⁄4“-diameter steel washer
• 2 each ⁵⁄8“-diameter shaft collars
• ⁵⁄8“-diameter shaft stock at least 12³⁄4” long
• ¹⁄2“-diameter all-thread at least 12³⁄4” long
• ¹⁄2“-diameter nut
• ¹⁄8“-diameter steel rod at least 6” long
• Hardwood scrap about 1″ x 1¹⁄2” x 4″
• Solder and flux
• Firebrick or drywall scraps
• Carpenters’ glue

Tools:

• Hand-held propane torch (Mapp^® gas will work even better)
• Drill and bit assortment
• Carving gouges
• Hacksaw or abrasive cutoff wheel
• File
• Wire brush
• Mallet and a couple of hammers

Patterns:

• Exploded drawing

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by Roger Schroeder

This article was first published in issue 35 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

Carvers tend to be innovative—and with the odd shapes that carvings can take on, many commercial holding devices just won’t work. That is why carvers design, or adapt, their own holding devices. The variety of designs is endless, but most can be broken down into a few simple approaches. All of them can be made with commonly available materials.

Hand Vise

Many wildfowl carvers use a painting stick because the bird is too small to hold. A painting stick is a length of square lumber or a section of a large-diameter dowel with a screw imbedded in one end with the point sticking out. Pre-drill a hole in the bottom of the bird, screw the dowel into the bird, and you have an instant holding device.

Elmer Jumper, of Philadelphia, PA, adapted a painting stick for his style of carving. Elmer inserted a drywall screw—which is threaded along its entire length—into a length of wood. He also drilled a hole in the other end to hold a separately carved head. If he is working on a project where a screw hole could be difficult to fill, he roughs out the carving so that it includes a tapered tenon to fit the hole in the hand vise. When he finishes carving, he cuts away the tenon.

Carver’s Frame

Early carvers used a simple screw to hold a carving to a bench. This carver’s screw comes up through a hole in the work surface and locks the carving in place with the aid of a handle. It is still in use today. One way to make one is with a large lag screw and washer. Two carver’s screws combine to make a holding fixture that Europeans call a carver’s frame.

John and Nancy Burke, of Ithaca, NE, designed and built an American-style carver’s frame that accomplishes what expensive vises do and then some. It allows a carving to be rotated horizontally and vertically, and it also allows you to adjust the height of the project.

Using a length of 4″ x 6″ lumber for the post and a piece of 3″-thick x 12″ x 20″ board for the clamping “platform,” the Burkes’ carver’s frame is stable without tying up an entire workbench. The post is supported by a set of steel legs, put together sawhorse-style, and a crossbar. One bench screw allows the platform to be rotated, the other screw holds the carving, which can then be turned a full 360˚ to the platform.

Carver’s Sandbag

A simple sandbag is useful to hold carvings with fragile areas that need support and can’t be held by screws, clamps, or vises. Sandbags also work well to hold a large carving that has to be turned so often that clamps prove impractical.

When working on a large natural wood bird sculpture with delicate primaries, I made my own sandbag. To make one, fill a plastic trash can liner with strained beach sand, and put that into an old canvas sports bag. Since the sand can be molded with some gentle rearranging and pushing, it was easy to get the carving bedded down. I worked on the fragile areas with a mallet and carving tools without worrying about breaking the carving.

Russ Robinson of Grand Rapids, MI, snugs a carving down onto a canvas-covered sandbag and provides more support with a web clamp wrapped around the carving, sandbag, and workbench.

The Rope Clamp

A rope wrapped around your carving and threaded through a hole in your work bench is a great way to hold an irregularly-shaped carving.

Scottsdale, AZ, resident Dave Stetson has a number of holding devices in his shop, but if a project requires only a few carving cuts and adjustments, Dave reaches for a length of clothesline.

To turn the rope into a holding device, make sure it is long enough to go around the project and pass through a hole in the bench. Then tie it off just far enough above the floor to comfortably put a foot into the loop. Your foot exerts a tremendous downward force, which keeps the carving securely in place on the bench. To turn the carving, simply take your foot off the rope.

Paper and Glue

A traditional method of making a temporary joint is to use newspaper and wood glue. When working with small relief pieces, such as appliqués, even the most compact clamp will get in the way of the carving tools.

Newspaper is just the right thickness for this clamping method. Thicker paper contributes to a weaker bond. Make sure the back of your carving is flat, then apply wood glue to a piece of scrap plywood or some other warp-free board and the back of your carving. Clamp the project and backing board together with a layer of newspaper between them, and let the glue dry overnight. When you finish carving, pry the carving free with a spackling knife. The newspaper will remain on the back of the carving and can be sanded or scraped off.

Carpet Tape

Another temporary way to bond a carving to its backing plate is with double-sided carpet tape.

To hold a large, high-relief eagle project to a backing board, I applied extra-strength carpet tape sparingly to the back of my carving. It makes for a very secure bond, but I found that I could not pry the eagle off the board with a spackling knife. Instead, I had to use a double-beveled carving chisel. The cutting edge has a long taper compared to the relatively short taper that single-bevel chisels have.

Carver’s Bench Hook

Carvers, such as Joel Hull, a frequent contributor to WCI, have adapted a traditional woodworker’s bench hook to hold irregularly-shaped carvings.

The bench hook is a board that “hooks” itself to the edge of the workbench, thanks to a cleat nailed or screwed to the underside. Another cleat is attached to the top to act as a stop. Once the hook is in place, the woodworker can use it for sawing, chisel work, and handplane work.

The carver’s version of the bench hook has large holes, into which a cam is inserted. Attached to a dowel sized to fit the holes on the board, the cam is positioned near the carving. The side of the cam bulges out so that when it rotates, it locks the carving against the stop, another cam, or a dowel. The cam is turned in the opposite direction to unlock the carving. Because of the low profile of the cam, the ease of changing its location, and the fact that it does not bear down on the carving, it rarely gets in the way.

About the Author

Roger Schroeder, of Amityville, NY, is a retired teacher, accomplished author, and the founding editor of Woodcarving Illustrated.

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by Mark Duginske

This article was first published in issue 42 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

Band saws tend to be one of the first power tools a new carver invests in. Carvers of all skill levels use the band saw to cut out a blank, but after you cut out one view, you usually have an irregularly shaped edge that makes it difficult to cut out the second profile. While you can rough out the other profile with carving tools, there is an easy way to cut it on the band saw.

I’ll demonstrate the technique on a cabriole leg, but the technique is the same for any 3D or in-the-round project.

About the Author

Mark Duginske is a lifelong woodworker from Merrill, WI. He is the inventor of many woodworking aids and devices and is the author of several books on band saws.

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Read more in The New Complete Guide to the Band Saw!

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by Chris Pye

This article was first published in issue 43 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

This design gives you the opportunity to practice low-relief carving. The technique is the same whether you are carving kanji characters, traditional letters, or pictorial designs. These kanji characters look interesting, and the shapes teach you how to set-in and ground a low-relief carving.

In “low relief” the depth is shallow and the carving feels quite light. The depth between the top of the letters and the background is 1/8″ to 3⁄16“. In traditional carving, the background is often simply called the “ground,” and establishing it is called “grounding” or “grounding out.”

Grounds can be “open” (approached easily from the side) or “closed” (areas surrounded by wood that are trickier to get at). Carvers need to be able to deal competently with both instances.

Design

I want to emphasise that the technique demonstrated is entirely independent of the subject. I chose this design to provide practice in important and fundamental carving techniques, but the design could be anything that works in relief as a silhouette—any letter, of any style (from Hebrew to Arabic); single (monograms) or grouped (a house sign, blocks of text); and even flowers, fish, or geometric patterns. Feel free to work with an alternate design; the method of carving will be the same.

This design is an example of “kanji:” a form of Japanese writing or script. I chose two kanji characters that make one word: “Mu-Shin,” and because Japanese is read from top to bottom, I’ve put them one above the other.

“Mu-shin” is a wonderful concept that arises out of Zen, for which there is no exact equivalent in English. It can be translated as “empty-mind” or “no-mind,” meaning a mind that is empty, but has infinite capacity and potential. The concept is readily found in the “mind like water” business concept. To give the kanji a context—and to provide more valuable carving practice—I added a pattern of water flowing around a stone.

You need a neat accurate outline of your subject, whatever you choose. Make your lines—what will be the outline of the subject—clean, simple, and flowing. They should be quite large, and without a lot of fussy details.

I enlarged the kanji on my computer and printed the design on vellum, or transparent paper. The transparent paper allows me to orient the designs with the grain.

Keep the strength of the wood fibers (the grain) in mind. Short fibers are weak and prone to breaking off, so check your design, and adjust it for strength.

A tight-grained wood such as oak, lime, basswood, or mahogany is ideal, but any unfigured, carveable wood will work. Because the design reads vertically, I have the grain orientated this way too. Western lettering looks better with the grain horizontal. Since the carving is quite shallow, you need only use a board 3/4″ to 1″-thick.

Basic Relief: Removing the Background

Basic Relief: “Setting In” the Subject

Basic Relief: Carving the Water

Finishing Notes

I finish the wood with a matte acrylic varnish, the sort used to finish oil paintings, which gives the surface a light sheen. A simple beeswax polish would also look good.

Special Tools

Final Word on the Design

It’s always good to critique your work. Despite this being an excellent practice piece for setting in, I’m not sure whether the pebble lying on a vertical surface really works, as it defies both logic and gravity. It also seems a little too dominant in the design. A smaller, flatter pebble would feel lighter, and would be less dominant and more balanced.

Painting the surfaces of the kanji would strengthen these elements, and setting the whole piece in a deep, box-like frame would take away some of the pebble’s isolated dominance.

Materials & Tools

Materials:

• 1″ x 91/2″ x 171/2″ basswood or wood of choice
• Temporary-bond spray adhesive
• Vellum or tracing paper
• Pebble of choice
• 2-part epoxy glue
• Mineral spirits (optional)
• Matte acrylic varnish or beeswax polish

Tools:

• Ruler or marking gauge
• 3/8″ 60° V-tool
• 3/8″ skew chisel
• #3 gouges: a variety from 1/4″ to 3/4″
• #6 or #7 gouges: a variety from 1/4″ to 3/4″
• #8 or #9 gouges: a variety from 1/4″ to 1/2″
• Assorted short-bent gouges and skews (essentially, whatever you have)

Patterns:

• Pattern download
  

About the Author

Chris Pye is a master woodcarver, instructor and author of several books, including Woodcarving Projects and Techniques, produced by Fox Chapel Publishing. Chris runs the video-based teaching website, WoodcarvingWorkshops.tv, with instruction on tools, sharpening, lettering, relief carving, in-the-round projects and much more; and from where he writes a free monthly blog about woodcarving. You can see a gallery of his commissioned work at www.chrispye-woodcarving.com.

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by Mac Proffitt

This article was first published in issue 53 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

It is possible to sharpen gouges with a flat stone, but I prefer to use a conical slip stone or gouge stone. Regardless of the stone you use, the goal is the same: to produce a wire edge on the inside of the bevel. The bevel is the part of gouge that does the cutting and it is what we sharpen and keep sharp. A wire edge is a continuous burr that forms when the edge of the tool gets thinner as you sharpen.

Once a gouge is sharp, you should never re-sharpen it unless you break it, chip the edge, or have to re-shape the bevel. Just strop the gouge when needed to maintain a sharp cutting edge.

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5. Polish the edges. Use a leather strop charged with abrasive. Hold the gouge against the strop with your index finger opposite the bevel. Roll the gouge from side to side with a firm even stroke. Attach a piece of leather to a dowel to polish the inside of larger gouges. Use a leather shoe string charged with abrasive to polish the inside of small gouges and veiners.

About the Author

Mac Proffitt co-owns and operates Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers Supply in Townsend, Tenn. Mac has been teaching carving classes and tool sharpening for more than 15 years. He can be reached at mac@woodcarvers.com. For a complete range of sharpening supplies, visit www.woodcarvers.com.

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by Lora S. Irish

This article was first published in issue 39 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

A high relief carving depends on shadows and the illusion of depth. Undercutting helps you achieve this and has the added benefit of tucking the joint line underneath an element, which allows you to hide imperfect joints and gives your carving crisp lines.

I make undercuts with a bench knife, but you can use a straight chisel. With a bench knife, I can pull it through the cut, but with a chisel I tend to push it in. That can lead to problems later when the compressed fibers pop up and make the cut look fuzzy.

About the Author

Lora S. Irish operates a web-based carving pattern business: www.carvingpatterns.com.

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by Lora S. Irish

This article was originally published in issue 46 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

In this project, I use stain, oil paint, and acrylic paint to enhance the project without obscuring the wood grain. This fun wood spirit, whom I call Woodie, is carved from basswood. While basswood is great for carving, it can be a bit bland visually. After completing your carving, prepare for the finish by removing any remaining chips, fibers, or dust with a stiff brush and a lint-free cloth.

Applying a Base Coat

Create a colorful base coating on the wood spirit using acrylic paints. On your palette, mix approximately three parts titanium white with one part raw sienna. You want a mixture close to the original basswood color. Add a couple of drops of water to thin the mixture slightly so it easily fills the deep grooves and tight joint lines.

Using a large ox-hair brush, scrub one coat of the mixture onto the entire work. Allow it to dry for one-half hour.

When the first coat is dry, apply a second coat of the base mix. I turn the work upside down to get color into areas the first coat may have missed. Allow the second coat to dry well.

Add an equal part of raw sienna to the remaining base-coat mixture. Load your large ox-hair brush with the new mixture and blot off any excess color. Working vertically, pull several random streaks of color across the carving.

Repeat the streaking step, using unmixed raw sienna. Mix a small amount of burnt umber to the raw sienna and add a few more streaks. For final streaking, use titanium white.

Allow the streak coating to dry well. Your carving should be colorful at this point, with changing streaks of color throughout the work.

Applying the Oil Stain

When the base coats of acrylic are dry, apply several light coats of polyurethane spray sealer to the entire work. Let each coat dry well before applying the next. Follow the directions on the spray can.

In a small pan, mix one part burnt umber oil paint with one-half part linseed oil to create a stain. The mixture should be thin, but not too runny.

Using a large soft staining brush, apply one coat of the mixture over your work. Work the oil stain into the deep crevices.

After covering the work with oil stain, wipe the piece using a lint-free cloth. As you wipe, the stain will saturate your cloth. Refold the cloth so you are using a clean area to remove the excess oil stain. Your work should have a light- to medium-brown look on the high areas with heavy staining in the deep crevices.

Slightly moisten a clean cloth with turpentine. Wrap the cloth around one finger for support and lightly rub it over the high areas of the carving to pick up the burnt umber oil stain from just the highest ridges. Allow the oil stain to dry overnight.

Your carving should have a wood-grain look with changing color tones that range from the base color of the wood on the highest parts to dark umber tones in the deepest crevices.

Dry Brushing and Roughing

When the oil stain is dry, apply several light coats of polyurethane spray sealer to the entire work. Let each coat dry well before applying the next coat. Follow the directions on the spray can.

For the face coloring, place a small amount of raw sienna oil paint on a palette. Add a drop or two of linseed oil until the paint is thin, but not runny. Wrap a clean lint-free cloth around your finger and pat the cloth into the mixture. Pat most of the color off the cloth on a paper towel. Using a circular motion, rub the cloth over the skin area of your carving. A very fine coating of raw sienna will adhere to the work. You can apply several coats. Two or three coats will create a nice medium skin color.

Mix a small amount of cadmium yellow medium and cadmium red oil paints to create an orange tone. Pick some color up on a cloth-wrapped finger, blot, and then apply the color to the cheek areas and the tip of the nose. One coat may be enough, but add a second coat for a stronger blush.

Rubbing thin layers of oil paint over a stained work is called roughing. This is a great technique to use for color buildup because the color sits on top of the stain, not under it, keeping the color bright. If you need more than a few layers of color, add a layer of polyurethane spray between coats.

The hair is highlighted by dry brushing the textured surface with acrylic paints. Place a small amount of titanium white on your palette. Moisten a small soft shading brush with water and then blot the brush on a paper towel.

Pick up a small amount of titanium white on the tip of the brush. On a clean area of the palette, work the white into the brush by pulling it back and forth across the palette several times. Pull the brush across the hair area. A small amount of white will be left on the high ridges of the texture, but no white will reach the deep brown crevices. Apply one light coat of dry-brushed white to all of the hair sections.

Pick a few sections of hair that you want brighter than the rest. Dry-brush a second coat of white just to these areas. I chose the mustache, eyebrows, temple hair, and his bangs. Add a third coat to just a few places and along the edges of the hair clumps. My third coat went on the eyebrows, bangs, temple hair, and on the edges of his mustache.

Painting the Eyes

The eye area will be darkly colored from the oil stain. Apply one thin coat of titanium white on the round areas of the eyes. Add a small amount of burnt umber to the titanium white to create a medium-brown tone. Load a soft square shade brush with the mixture and blot most of the color from the brush on a paper towel. Use the lightly loaded brush to pull a shadow on the round area of the eye under the upper eyelid. This shades the eye, giving it a more natural look.

Let the paint dry thoroughly. Give your work a final coating of polyurethane.

Materials & Tools

Materials:

• 1″ x 6″ x 101/2″ basswood
• Acrylic artist paints: titanium white, raw sienna, burnt umber
• Oil artist paints: burnt umber, raw sienna, cadmium yellow medium, cadmium red
• Polyurethane spray sealer
• Linseed oil
• Turpentine
• Paper towels

Tools:

• Band saw or scroll saw
• Straight chisel
• Round gouge
• V-tool
• Skew chisel
• Bench knife or chip carving knife
• Assorted paintbrushes of choice
• Soft lint-free cloths
• Water pans, mixing pans
• Paint palette

Pattern:

• Main pattern
• Relief-carving layers (1 highest, 5 lowest)
• Sketch

About the Author

Lora S. Irish is a prolific designer and author. She and her husband, Michael, have put together an enormous warehouse of digital carving patterns at artdesignsstudio.com.

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by John Mignone and Roger Schroeder.

This article was first published in issue 32 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

Ask ten carvers how to sharpen a tool and you are bound to get ten different answers. But what is the right way to sharpen a tool?

Unfortunately, there is no “right” method—only a correct outcome. You want a tool that can shave a thin slice off end grain as easily as cutting with the grain. Sharpening by hand can be done almost as quickly as by machine and with results just as good. But before you go out and buy the sharpening accessories, take a closer look at these three terms: bevel, burr and polishing.

Getting the Right Bevel

The tool’s bevel determines whether or not it will carve. Carvers all have their own favorite bevel angle, but you generally want to increase the angle as you increase the hardness of the wood. One rule of thumb is to use a shallow angle (15° to 20°) for easily carved woods such as pine and basswood and steeper angles (25° to 35°) for harder woods such as oak and walnut.

Why do you need different bevels for different woods? The shallower the bevel, the easier the tool slides through the wood. But shallower bevels also give you a weaker edge.

You can use a shallow bevel for hardwoods, but the sharp edge won’t last as long—so you’ll need to sharpen more often. You can also use a steeper bevel for softwoods, but it will be harder to push the tool through the wood. When using harder woods, carvers usually use mallets and chisels, so a steeper bevel works fine.

Although there are exceptions, generally a flat bevel is desirable. A rounded bevel makes the tool roll out of the cut prematurely.  A hollow ground bevel makes the cutting edge brittle and subject to quick dulling.

Another sharpening problem is the double or blunt bevel—an extra bevel, or what might appear as a blunt edge, exists on the end of the tool. Sometimes the manufacturer may be the culprit, but it may be the result of your own sharpening. Double bevels result from sharpening at inconsistent angles and can make it difficult for the tool to enter and leave the wood smoothly—the tool will feel sharp but won’t cut efficiently.

There are two main ways to shape a bevel—sandpaper and coarse sharpening stones. Sandpaper often offers the fastest way to shape a bevel because it is available in very coarse grits. For sharpening, the best choice is silicon carbide sandpaper, commonly referred to as wet-and-dry sandpaper. The hardest grit, silicon carbide will cut faster and shorten the time spent on the cutting edge. It is also preferred because the paper can be kept wet to aid the sharpening process.

For silicon carbide paper to work efficiently, it needs to be backed with an absolutely flat surface. Your best bet is a ¹/4“-thick piece of glass that measures approximately 6″ wide by 12” long. If the glass slips when you are sharpening, add a piece of non-skid carpet padding to the back of the glass. To hold the paper in place, soak it in water until it is thoroughly wet and smooth it out on the glass, making sure to squeeze out air bubbles. Once the sandpaper is in place, you are ready to sharpen. Make sure it stays wet throughout the sharpening process.

Start with coarse sandpaper and use progressively finer grits to remove the scratches left by the previous paper.

A sharpening stone works the same way. The grit in the stone wears away the metal of the blade as it passes over the surface. It doesn’t matter if you use diamond stones, oil stones or water stones. Use a coarse stone until the bevel is shaped and work your way through the finer grits.

Oil stone manufactures recommend you apply a light oil before sharpening to float the metal particles away. There are commercially available sharpening oils, but carvers I know use everything from kerosene, to mineral oil, to light-weight motor oil. Some carvers use the stones dry and scrub them off with soap and water regularly—but this isn’t recommended by the manufacturers.

Coarse waterstones are usually soaked in water, but finer grits just require a spray of water before sharpening. Ceramic stones and diamond stones do not require any lubrication—they just require a regular cleaning with soap and water.

While you don’t have to worry about replacing spent sandpaper when using a sharpening stone, you do need to make sure the stone stays flat. Diamond stones stay flat, but it is possible to wear a groove into an oil stone or a water stone. Regular re-shaping on a flattening plate or using glass backed sandpaper is required to keep them in shape.

Holding a Constant Bevel

There are jigs and holders available for most sharpening needs, but it’s sometimes just as easy to learn to sharpen by hand. When shaping a bevel, the most important thing is to keep your angle constant—otherwise you will get a double bevel.

Position the sandpaper and glass or sharpening stone so that its length is perpendicular to the front of your body. That way you can eyeball the angle of the tool to the paper or stone and maintain a constant angle throughout the sharpening process. For tools like gouges and chisels with short bevels, place a visible angle guide at the end of the glass to help you keep the angle constant. Check out the Sharpening At-A-Glance chart for the suggested motions to sharpen each tool.

Use a side-to-side motion with the  gouges and V-tools. If you attempt to sharpen with the direction of the bevel, even the finest grit will create a slightly scalloped edge, which will give you a jagged cut.

Fresh, bright metal is exposed on the bevel through the sharpening process. If you have trouble seeing your progress, coat the edge with black magic marker.  After the first few strokes, make sure the ink is being worn away evenly.

The easiest way to maintain the same bevel is to place the top of the bevel down first and slowly rotate it until the edge rests on the stone.

As you sharpen, you will see a wire-edge, or burr, forming on the tip of the blade (see below). Continue sharpening with the coarse stone or paper until you have a burr the entire length of the blade.

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If sharpening and stropping do not remove the burr, polish it away with a dowel covered with leather, sandpaper or even stropping compound, as shown here.

The Burr

The goal of sharpening is to achieve a burr or wire edge.  As you sharpen, the metal on the end of the cutting edge becomes very thin and usually rolls over. This is the best indicator that you are very close to having a sharp edge. Continue sharpening until this extra metal is present across the entire cutting edge. Make sure you are maintaining a consistent angle when sharpening for best results.

Despite the need to create a burr, it has to be removed; if it isn’t, the tool may not cut at all. There is more than one way  to remove the burr.

Working through finer grits of sandpaper should take it off, especially if you finish sharpening with 1200-grit sandpaper.

Fine sharpening stones, such as a hard black Arkansas stone or the finest-grit water stones will also remove the wire-edge. With the sandpaper or sharpening stones, the wire-edge will be removed easily if you maintain a constant sharpening angle.

To make sure the burr is gone and to put a polished edge on your tool, stropping is the last step.

Stropping removes the burr and polishes the edge. A polished edge glides through the wood easier. Unless you nick your blade, you can usually just strop a tool rather than re-sharpen it totally.

All you need to achieve a polished edge is a strop and abrasives or stropping compounds. A carver’s strop consists of a piece of hard leather glued to a piece of wood. Two popular abrasives are aluminum oxide and chromium oxide, available as powder, paste or in stick form. Most carving supply companies stock a variety of abrasives and stropping compounds. Note: chromium is a heavy metal and is toxic in high concentrations—you use a small amount when stropping, so it really isn’t much of a problem, but avoid contact as much as you can.

To start stropping, apply a small amount of abrasive compound to the strop. To strop gouges, chisels, and V-tools, hold the tool at a constant angle, apply pressure and pull the tool across the leather. The bevel is held at a constant angle, pressure is applied, and the tool is pulled across the leather away from the cutting edge.

When stropping a knife, lay the blade flat on the leather and pull it with the cutting edge trailing. Resist the temptation to turn the blade up at the end of the stroke. That extra motion will round the bevel, which you want to avoid.

If you push any of the tools or strop them from side to side, you are liable to cut the leather. Stropping is rarely as rigorous as sharpening, but the strokes should be long and firm.

If you see “tracks” in the stropping compound, the tool probably has a burr. In that case, continue stropping until it disappears. If the burr is still present, return to the finer-grit sandpapers.

Every carver has a different opinion about how often tools should be stropped, but most agree that they should be stropped at the beginning of each day of carving. This removes any moisture that may have collected while they were stored.

Removing the Whole Wire-edge

It is important to remember that there are two sides to every cutting edge. And when sharpening, the wire-edge tends to bend over. With straight and skew chisels and carving knives, it’s easy to alternate sides to strop off the burr, but gouges and V-tools call for different techniques.

For gouges, bend a piece of leather and push it out of the channel to avoid cutting the material. For a more permanent strop, glue a piece of leather to a dowel. If this proves too troublesome, wrap a dowel that fits inside the channel with a piece of very fine sandpaper. If the paper has a tendency to tear, “charge” or rub the dowel with stropping compound.  A charged piece of wood is particularly effective with micro tools.

A traditional way to remove the burr from inside a gouge is to use a slip stone. Slip stones, specially designed for de-burring an inside edge, come in a variety of shapes and are available in many carving catalogs.

For a V-tool, try a charged leather shoelace to remove the burr. A good investment is a knife-edge slip stone ideal for getting inside V-tools. However, you usually need to sharpen the knife-edge with a piece of sandpaper or a stone—otherwise the slip stone will wear an unwanted groove in the channel of the V-tool.

The Learning Curve

Like any technique, practice may not make perfect, but you’ll invariably get better. Work to maintain a consistent bevel angle and avoid shortcuts as you go through the steps to remove the unwanted burr. You may get frustrated that it takes a while to bring a dull edge back to life, but the payback of making polished cuts in the latest project is hard to beat.

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