Getting started....mounting your carving blanks...and removing them when finished

[Chuck]

Post your methods and questions here on how you mounted your blanks or remove them after you are finished.

[Chuck]

I am far from being an expert at carving in wood.  This was my first attempt and it seemed to work really well.  I am sure some of you will have alternative methods for mounting your carving blanks.

 

The Queen's cipher is probably the easiest of the designs to start with so I recommend starting with those.

 

 

To mount the blank,  I used a thicker 1/8" or 3/16" thick piece of scrap wood (not included with the blanks).  Its cherry and is hard enough to take a beating.  I would imagine softer woods are not the best to use and probably should be avoided.  The base was cut just a little larger than the piece being carved.  It was glued on with a childs glue stick.  This glue is easy to remove and cures permanent and strong....but will easily be treated with rubbing alcohol when the time comes to remove it.

 

 

Dont be shy with how much you use.  You want this piece secure.  These are fragile pieces at 1/32" thick.  Take special care with the areas that would be prone to breaking like the bottom tails for the letters.  The glue will dry hard but also flatter.   If some squished out its not a problem because you can easily scrape it away while carving.

 

 

Because the designs are so thin it will have a tendency to curl when wet with glue.  To solve this problem I sandwiched it with another small scrap piece and clamped it to dry.  I let it dry overnight before starting to carve it.

 

 

To remove the piece after you are done...I literally just filled a small plastic container with 90% rubbing alcohol and dropped it in.  I let it fully submerge in a 1" deep bath for about 3 hours.  It actually fell right off the base without any trouble.

 

Feel free to share other ways here or in your logs when you start one.  I would NOT recommend trying to carve these blanks without mounting them to a base.  They will just break apart in the first 2 seconds.

 

Chuck

[Jack12477]

Chuck, have you had any experience using Aspen or Poplar or Maple (easily found in Lowes/Home Depot) as the base instead of cherry?

[Chuck]

No but I am sure that would work....I just had a bunch of bad cherry I needed to use up.   I am sure any relatively hard base will do.   About 3/16" thick  or even 1/8" thick.

[Jack12477]

Thanks.

[druxey]

To prevent curling, dampen the front of the blank when gluing up thin pieces. I'd still clamp them as well, as illustrated. 

[dgbot]

I have experimented with carpet tape and it does the job. 

David B

[willz]

i would glue a piece of paper with pva to the mounting block then glue your piece to the paper again with pva, after you finish you just leave it in water and your piece should fall away.  i havent tried this method but i have never used a mounting block, i just dive in and carve

[Modeler12]

I have experimented with carpet tape and it does the job. 

David B

I have used carpet tape for other projects and it does as you mentioned, but the residue is hard to remove unless you use acetone. The same applies when using contact cement in a spay can. It works great but don't let it cure too long with small pieces.

That brings me back to what Chuck suggested.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Modeler12

[Mirabell61]

 

I am far from being an expert at carving in wood.  This was my first attempt and it seemed to work really well.  I am sure some of you will have alternative methods for mounting your carving blanks.

 

The Queen's cipher is probably the easiest of the designs to start with so I recommend starting with those.

 

mounting1.jpg

 

To mount the blank,  I used a thicker 1/8" or 3/16" thick piece of scrap wood (not included with the blanks).  Its cherry and is hard enough to take a beating.  I would imagine softer woods are not the best to use and probably should be avoided.  The base was cut just a little larger than the piece being carved.  It was glued on with a childs glue stick.  This glue is easy to remove and cures permanent and strong....but will easily be treated with rubbing alcohol when the time comes to remove it.

 

mounting2.jpg

 

Dont be shy with how much you use.  You want this piece secure.  These are fragile pieces at 1/32" thick.  Take special care with the areas that would be prone to breaking like the bottom tails for the letters.  The glue will dry hard but also flatter.   If some squished out its not a problem because you can easily scrape it away while carving.

 

mounting3.jpg

 

Because the designs are so thin it will have a tendency to curl when wet with glue.  To solve this problem I sandwiched it with another small scrap piece and clamped it to dry.  I let it dry overnight before starting to carve it.

 

mounting4.jpg

 

To remove the piece after you are done...I literally just filled a small plastic container with 90% rubbing alcohol and dropped it in.  I let it fully submerge in a 1" deep bath for about 3 hours.  It actually fell right off the base without any trouble.

 

Feel free to share other ways here or in your logs when you start one.  I would NOT recommend trying to carve these blanks without mounting them to a base.  They will just break apart in the first 2 seconds.

 

Chuck

 

 

Thanks for showing Chuck !

 

very smart solution for fixing / removing    Nils

 

Nils

[Boxbuilds]

I've used scrap tile with a smooth surface