Woodworker's Journal 2004-28-4, страница 29

TECHNIQUES

Getting Started with Letter Carving

By Simon Watts

Having had the run of a large, well-equipped shop for most of my life, I lind woodworking in my San Francisco apartment challenging.

I have to contend with a nosy landlord, cranky neighbors and three flights of stairs. Prior to climbing those stairs every day. I had never considered taking up woodcarving — perhaps because 1 associated it with duck decoys, garden gnomes and ot her geriatric nonsense.

However, this spring, needing to replace seme old signs on a house in Nova Scotia, I thought of giving it a try. My ambition was mcdest: learn enough to carve good-looking name boards for friends and neighbors, for boats or whatever. 1 looked through the usual catalogs — and saw there was a multitude of carving tools on the market and I'd better get some advice.

Furthermore, buying a gouge, chisel or adze without being able to feel the heft and balance of the tool is chancy. So I called a professional woodcarver friend who invited me to his studio. We spent a couple of hours going over his collection of carving tools (over a thousand), "I need them all," he said "but some I may only use once ;)t twice a year."

Not everyone has an opportunity to learn from a pro, so I thought I'd share some of my lessons and conclusions. First off, I was cautioned about taking the secondhand route. Even with familiar and respected trade names, I am told that it is asking for problems.

1 decided that the faceted style of handles, usually octagonal, had c better feel than round handles (also they were less prone to roll off the bench and bite the dust — or my feet).

My friend also advised me to ignore sets and buy only the tools 1 needed to get started So with his help, I made a list of essential tools and equipment — including a mallet and tool roll.

I went back to the catalogs, somewhat wiser, and decided, as a beginner, it would be prudent to buy pre-sharpened tools, already honed with the correct bevel. Suppressing my pro-British bias, I seUled on the Lamp™ brand, made in Germany. I liked the octagonal, hornbeam handles, the honed and polished edges and having the size and "sweep" (degree of curvature of a gouge) stamped into both the handle and the steel shank.

While waiting for the tools to arrive, 1 practiced drawing letters directly on the wood with T-square and triangle ... with poor results. 'Hie letters looked awkward and mcchanical, betraying my engineering background My artist sister was amused by my efforts and observed that it took years of practice to draw well-proportioned letters in the various styles.

I then had the good fortune to come across a book called Arthur Bakers Historic Calligraphic Alphabets. It contains 33 complete alphabets, printed in black, two or more inches high, with no grid lines or other distractions. Mere was a treasure trove indeed for the novice carver. Furthermore, the author granted permission to use up to 10 of the alphabets.

1 bought several other books (of marginal value), until I came across Letter Carving in Wood by Chris Pye. This is the best book I found: clear, detailed information combined with close-up photos and excellent sketches.

Eventually, one has lo take the plunge, so I chose an alphabet and made several photocopies until I had enough letters. Then I cut them out and arranged them on a piece of cardboard, cut to the san e size as the wooden name board.

Part of Simon's preparation for learn ng letter carving was finding the best tiols for the task. As is common to woodworking, he fiund thct the right tools made all the difference.

Our author started letter carving for practical reasons, including its appropriate nature for apartment woodworking. The results were signs that ended up in his Canadian retreat.

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August 2004 Woodworker's Journal