Paper template issue

[Jeeves]

Hi gang. I’ve restarted wood carving after a lay off and glued a relief template to some basswood. I was pretty disappointed when it regularly snagged despite - I thought- a reasonably sharp v tool. Can somebody advise where I might be going wrong? Thanks

[pallin]

What is the template material? Did the carver who gave you this idea use a V-tool cutting through his template to start (outline) a relief carving subject?

Don't believe everything you see demonstrated in videos.

[joepaulbutler]

Picture...........

[Jeeves]

https://youtu.be/_Lhhbjwn6Zs

Here’s the guy doing it. His own V work begins about 2/3 of the way in. I wrote to him and he said that he had snagging too, but I think his perception of this is somewhat different to mine! Thanks for responding btw guys

[Arthur C.]

Well, Jeeves, I've never used a glue-on pattern, but I would think that these would affect the "snagging": Paper - weight, whether or not the paper is coated, type (rag or pulp based), absorbency; and Glue - ingredients, spray-on, brushed, amount used. Only experimentation would tell.

[mpounders]

I suspect your tool is dull. I just laid a piece of copy paper on my bench and was able to carve through it with no problems and it wasn't glued down at all. The other issue may be the grain direction underneath the pattern. As you follow the pattern, you are cutting with, against, and across the grain, which would make the wood cut differently.

[Eddy-Smiles]

I agree with Mike. I use glue-on's all the time and it only takes a minute to determine that my tool is too dull.

[DiLeon]

When doing glue on it is going to lose its lines regardless at some point. I use a box knife to mark those lines and then carve away the paper, to remark with pencil or felt tip sharpie. Then you need to start measuring methods to know where the lines are. This is why I have at least two copys....one to use for cut out and the next pattern is used to measure.

[Jeeves]

Thanks for those observations guys. I can only assume that the V isn’t as sharp as it needs to be although it was sharpened not so very long ago by a master blacksmith. It runs very nicely on bare basswood. But I’ll have to look into it for sure.

[sappy]

It might be the glue you are using. I know rubber contact cement is really hard to try to carve through because it is 'rubbery' and will really gum up your gouges.

[Jeeves]

That’s very interesting. Thanks

[joepaulbutler]

I never carve through a pattern, I either trace it on with carbon paper or I do a reverse image and do a rub-off directly into the wood.

I don't know if you have any access to power tools yet, but I cut the pattern that is on the wood with a 1/16" cylinder dentist bit before I touch a knife to the wood.

Even then I'm sometimes not happy with my cut-in image

I would get your image to the wood before trying to carve, just my 2¢

[Nebraska]

I do glue on patterns for cut outs but the bandsaw goes right through it.

D3C860A8-EC21-43FC-90EC-DFB6280A576C.jpg

[Randy]

I use 3M spray glue covering the back of the paper. The I fined the paper will pull on me if there is a loose area and/or my cutting egde is not sharp enough or is it has some micro chips in the cutting edge. Your cutting edge can look and feel sharp but have some very small mico chips. look at your edge though a magnifying glass now and then. Make a cut in some scrap with you Vtool, the surface should be smooth. If the blade has some small chips in the cutting edge you may see some very small lines in the cut.

[Glenn Jennings]

Hi Jeeves,
I put graphite paper under the picture and tape it in place on the wood, Then I use a blunt scriber to trace the picture onto the wood.

I leave the picture taped to one edge of the wood so it can be flipped over to re- do a line if needed.

You can prevent pattern loss by spraying it with a fixative or hair spray which also works quite well . The line is exactly where you want it to be and it can be touched up at any time.

Tried glue on patterns but it didn't work for me as I often go for as much detail as I can get on a piece and the paper just got munted in the proccess. . Just my 2 cents worth.