Tackling bigger carvings

[chagorhan]

I had a very hard time carving the stomach under the hand. I used my murphy knife for the whole thing

[DiLeon]

I had a very hard time carving the stomach under the hand. I used my murphy knife for the whole thing

I carve a lot of things that are very deep cut areas and underthings. I use a drill to make it easier for the tool to pass in hard-to-cut areas. Just drill holes in areas where you want to cut making sure you do not cut into your carving. I mark the drill bit often with painter's tape to know how deep to cut. The holes make the area more carvable at times. Drill bits can come from super tiny that is used in a Dremel to a regular drill. Also, a thin chisel will help out carving those areas.

[Claude]

Something to understand when changing sizes of a carving: the square-cube law. In essence, this states that as the size is increased, the surface area goes up as the square, and the volume goes up as the cube of the increase.

Take a 3 x 2 x 2 inch block that you can carve a figure out of. It has 32 square inches of surface area and 12 cubic inches of volume. Double that for a larger carving. The block is now 6 x 4 x 4 (keeping the same proportions). The new surface area is 128 square inches, and the new volume is now 96 cubic inches. Making the size twice as large, makes it 4 times as much surface area to remove chips from, and 8 times as much volume.

Why is that important? Well, 4 times the surface area means 4 times the chips that have to be removed, and likely 4 times as long to do it. But considering the volume, since many of us don't have tools large enough to make larger chips, there are 8 times as many chips to be removed when the size is doubled, and this might take 8 times as long. The 3 inch block is actually 1/12 of a board foot, so if the board foot costs $8, the 3 inch block, proportionally, is $0.67. The large block is 2/3 of a board foot so it's cost would be approximately $5.33 or 8 times as much.

Claude

[Brian T]

Try carving dishes. Of course, they are a good size to be at all useful.
Weigh the wood block first. Carve the dish. Weigh the dish.
Commonly, they run 15% of the original block weight. Hope your wood is inexpensive like mine.

[chagorhan]

Something to understand when changing sizes of a carving: the square-cube law. In essence, this states that as the size is increased, the surface area goes up as the square, and the volume goes up as the cube of the increase.

Take a 3 x 2 x 2 inch block that you can carve a figure out of. It has 32 square inches of surface area and 12 cubic inches of volume. Double that for a larger carving. The block is now 6 x 4 x 4 (keeping the same proportions). The new surface area is 128 square inches, and the new volume is now 96 cubic inches. Making the size twice as large, makes it 4 times as much surface area to remove chips from, and 8 times as much volume.

Why is that important? Well, 4 times the surface area means 4 times the chips that have to be removed, and likely 4 times as long to do it. But considering the volume, since many of us don't have tools large enough to make larger chips, there are 8 times as many chips to be removed when the size is doubled, and this might take 8 times as long. The 3 inch block is actually 1/12 of a board foot, so if the board foot costs $8, the 3 inch block, proportionally, is $0.67. The large block is 2/3 of a board foot so it's cost would be approximately $5.33 or 8 times as much.

Claude

So Claude what you’re saying is I just vacuumed up $5.33 worth of chips off the floor. Haha

[chagorhan]

Try carving dishes. Of course, they are a good size to be at all useful.
Weigh the wood block first. Carve the dish. Weigh the dish.
Commonly, they run 15% of the original block weight. Hope your wood is inexpensive like mine.

Yes Brian, I had to take a break not for perspective, but my thumb was getting tired. A lot more carving done on this guy…wooowee

[Brian T]

A western red cedar shake block, suitable for a big dish (12" x 24" x 8") is $5.00 at the mill.

I swing a lead-core 30 oz Wood-Is-Good mallet. There are day's ends when I can't lift either arm.
I am totally whacked out. The show is over. Actually quite funny to be that tired.

Because of the shoulder action, the elbow and D adzes are good for a break. Nice tools for big rough-outs that don't quite yet need a chain saw.

[pallin]

We've had occasional discussions about the time or number of cuts involved in various types of carving. A 12" basswood plate I carved ten years ago for my sister had 480 triangles, each with three or more knife cuts. The total project was done in 3-1/2 days. Most of the relief carvings I do now take 8 or 10 months.

There's an old saying that a 1000 mile hike starts with a single step. You have to set a pace you can maintain. When carving, and your fingers, wrists, or arms are complaining, it's time to slow down.

[Brian T]

Roughing out a feast dish. Rounding a split post into a cylinder for a pole carving. Work.
I was taught to listen to my heart. Don't chop with an adze or pull a draw knife any faster than your heart rate. Doubles or triples active shop time.

Shaping poles from 64" square posts of flawless western red cedar is kind of satisfying.