Popular Woodworking 2009-06 № 176, страница 15

from fkmrr lo bad. four ll<A\xt-pc<*l Mf cuts jfc t/jnstormed into a bowlonce the ditgonjh Me cut oil.

the Ulest Uihkm. Cjm-rs in I8tht rotary Amortcj hkHy trx or pouted elements irom the Litest Inndon fashions.

sure you are exerting down But the tool is also exert t ng pressure sideways (from t he wedge action) and you need to think about that too. A double-beveled tool helps.

Light Cuts with Heavy Pressure?

What do carvingand turning have incotn-mon? More than I thought. Stocb's tools leave beautiful polished surfaces behind. Smooth stropped edges help Butthcsecrettohissuc-cess with surfaces appears to be the light cuts he makes. Takinga light cut wit ha carving gouge can be trickier than it appears. Stotb beginseachcut by riding the bevel just as a turner uses a skew. Pressingthc tool down ontothc work and rockingthc bevel allows for a com tolled cut. How much pressure? About the same as you would use sharpening the tool.

Wiggle Room

Don't try this move at home! Storb takes a coarse cut directly into his stab line. Even smooth, consistent pressure can result in catastrophic failure as changing wood grain makes the tool move in fits and starts. So

Storb wiggles his tool side to side, walking the cornersof his gouge toward his destination. "Watch thccomers!" he warns. I've seen more than a lew old gouges wit h thumbnail shaped edges. I wonder if this isn't the rea-

son w hy.

Flowers, Beads: What's the Difference? Stotb approaches bead elements with four flower-petal like cms The circle is stabbed in first, then the tuts arc wiggled in carefully using the same Vi©* #8 gouge that scribed the circle. The petals then become a bowl when the dtagonalsare sliced off. These cuts

Low-relief Connoisseurship

The raised-edge memberat the bottom of the legin the picture above isa feature shownin ChippendakVDirector.'InChippendale's book.it runs down the lengthof the legand flows gracefully into the scroll feet. By the time Chippendale wrote his book, ball-and-claw feci were out of fashion in London. Tie chair I'm copying, which incorporates very Chippendale-lookingkneecarving, induces this edge member, but the carver blend.-d it into the cabriole halfway down the leg. My intcrprctatwn is that the person who carved the Philadelptiiaduir kgwasa reexnt immigrant from Fngland. conversant in the latest styles, but willing to adopt the latest fashions to Philadelphian conventions like the ball and daw.

You Can't Carve What You Can't Draw

The drawing shown above (one of man.-1 made in anticipation of my own attempt at ihisdcsign) fairly accurately reflect »wh:t I sawontheoriglnalchalr. It leaturesacent-al bracket of C-scrolls with some form of leafat the top and a reel below. Beneath the reel is acoupkl ofbeadsovcrbellflowers Bcneah the couplet is some form of squiggle I don't recogmre. Adjacent to the C-scroll. rougMy mimic king its shape, are acanthus Icavcsthat wind their way across the glued-on kiee return. These aren't just swwps and cutis. Fach is individual and distinct from those around it. The best way tokam about these design elements is to sec them in booksor paintings and draw them. Generalionsof wear often obscure furniture carvings into

Orjm ing it out. A drawing helps to detinejre the crisp Unes time may have erased on a period carving.

easily dismissed frou frouswoopsand cuds. In their day. they would have been ensp and identifiable.

Conclusion

There are t hrec types of fear There ts rat wnal fear - the fearof table saws, motorcycksor the ocean. This son of fear keeps us safe. Tl>cre is irrational fcar. which stops us from getting on airplanes to visit loved ones or visiting the circus (I've always been afraid of clowns). Thentherc'sthe ignorant lackof fear, when you should be afraid, but you're not. I'm not sure whatthisthird type of fcar is calkd. but ii's the inaccurate sense that everythingtsgoingtobc fine that allowsusto cat in fast-food restaurantsor mountain bike. Obviously. I wasafflicted with this last son when I began this project-iutncd-fiasco.

The carvings on the kneesand hack of this chair are among the most difficult ever attempted. Lesser carverschosc designs that radiated from the knee outward. Designs such as shells, in addition to being simpkr overall, flow with the grain. Thischair'sknee carvingsencirck the knee incver-reversing grain, lchosctocopyachairthat was made by a team of craftsmen at the top of their gimc.cachof whom washandptcked in his youth to fulfill this ultimate destiny. This chair represents the pinnacle of woodcraft and the height of the Philadelphia Chippendale style What was I thinking? The only upside is I'm not making it out of ebony. Bored? Done everythingtheretstodo with wood? Come right this way. pw

Viik film's blogMJrtiM)dmy*ttnetxom lor more

pc^ulirvwdwvtlila^eoill ■ 25