I started this after after looking for our thread that we had for our general carving talk. I guess it never followed us here. I am working on a gun stock that I plan to try some basket weave carving instead of checkering, and I want to add some additional carving. I haven't carved in a while so I started with some practice pieces. This is the latest practice. Most of it was power carved. I'm not calling it complete yet. I will let it dry, (BLO and tinting with oil paint) and see. Give me any suggestion for improvement for this one or the next one!
I also did a practice basket weave. It definitely needs some additional practice.
Using a V-gouge to outline shapes and define major lines like the veins of the leaf will give you crisper definition. On outlines, you then carve up to the v-groove to get the relief and create the illusion of depth. IMO, you will get better results using gouges than power carving and for me, power carving does not really speed things up any. The only thing it seems to speed up for me is mistakes.
If you, or anyone else interested in carving for that matter, have never watched Mary May's free introduction to carving series, I highly recommend it. After following along with one of them, I was amazed at how easy basic carving turned out to be. After long breaks between carving sessions (I do not do much), I often rewatch some her free stuff as a reminder of her tips. She is an excellent teacher, IMO, and if you find a lesson where you can download the pattern she is carving and carve along as she does, pausing the video to catch up with her, ou will have a pretty close copy of her carving. ... It looks like she may have changed how you access the free lessons works on Mary May's website. Now it is just a 7 day free trial. It's worth checking out but you can also find some free stuff on her YouTube Channel here.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
I’ve watched quite a few of her videos, she has some awesome tips and techniques. I don’t carve much, or very well, but it’s a nice skill to have some background in.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
i started using power tools because i find the hard woods in gunstocks, along with the contours hard to follow and carve with hand tools. This is my first time using the power, so we will see, but i will likely end with some type of hybrid approach.
Hardwoods can definitely be a challenge, especially those used for gunstocks. I would have to up my sharpening game to be successful but the V-gouge is perhaps the easiest one to use in hard woods.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
Nice Don! I like that a lot. Did you sketch it out yourself? For me that’s the hardest part of starting a project - trying to find or create a pattern I like.
