Popular Woodworking 2009-06 № 176, страница 14

—■ Arts & Mysteries ■—

mallei or hand pressure. Just be sure not to try to make* the cut* too deep, Vi6* deep is more than enough for the first go around. Relieve the ground, then deepen the profile by an additional '/i6".

('•roundingisdoncwithashalkiw gouge

such as a *3. Removing material around your profile prrsenrstwochallengjrs; cutting to the stab cuts without cutting past them (potentially lifting out your carving) and producing a uniformly smooth and seemingly consent ground surface. A V-gwgc or vetncr can be used tochasearound inside the stab cuts. The ground work can get wasted to these features without risking the finished profile. But this is a step good carvers seem to skip. I've bund it to lie helpful in some instances. however. Cross-grain veinercuts. right through the mvddk of your waste area, can also help you maintain an even depth. Storb doesn't bother with this either.

Modeling seeks to create the illusion of three-dimensional elements, despite the very shallow nature of low-relief carving.

The trick here appears to be to work very conservatively, just suggeslinga roundrd surface without fully delivering one. Stab left a t iny bit of flat on t he profile of almost il I ofhiscarvings. lledidnt round his designs allthc way tothc ground surface. Ihoughthc modeled surfaces appear to be com I nuous. the grain oriental ton required that these * comprised of multiple passes from different directions. Light cuts were required. Workingagiinst the grain was rcquircdin

Control Depth with a Mallet, But Be Careful!

Storb sometimesusesa mallet toincrease the consistency of his stabcut*. He maintains* relaxed upright posture. But the photo below belies a trick you need to know intimately. These cuts haw to be perpendicular to the surface. If you lean away from the design, a portion of thlscut may appear later in the ground surface. If you lean into the design, the edge of the carving will be undercut

and will surely crumbk or split. To make matter* more complicated, single beveled chisels undercut toward the back side of the tool. Wood sees chisel edges as wedges and seeks to place the same amount of pressure on either side of the tool regardless of the direction it's driven. To get a straight cut. technically you have loiihihechtscl handle toward the bac k of t he blade. If you try this, know that a component of the mallet force is pushing tlie blade sideways, potentially ruining youredge and siresstngyourcarv-ing(because your chisel handk is no longer in the line of action of the cut). Notke Storb doing that? No? Me either. His gouges arc all double beveled This allows him to use them upside down. I think I mentioned that in the ball-and-c law ankle. But it akoallows him to hold his tools perpendicular to the surface he's working on. The result is nice square edge*of hiscumngv And he can use

his malkt to make thin cuts along the grain without splitting. When you use a mallet. I think it's natural to worry about the pres

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