Carving tools, books and carving woods discussion

[thibaultron]

If you go directly to Google Translate https://translate.google.com/?sl=la

 

You can type or paste in the web address, and it will translate the entire page.

[kayakerlarry]

Just ordered the Ellenwood book to help me kick start my basic quarter board project.  Will try Chuck's approach of #11 blades.  Thanks for the recommendation.

 

Larry

[Martin W]

Hi Guys -- I just saw this thread, and am very excited about it.  Carving at small scales has many challenges that simply don't show up in full size carving -- and one challenge is that, as people have already mentioned, there just aren't many tools small enough.  The Dockyard chisels are of low quality, in my opinion, and once dulled can be very tricky to sharpen.  Two Cherries, a German company, makes some small gouges and V-tools out of a much harder steel and with more solid handles.  Even the 1mm gouge has proven too large for carving at 1:64, however.

 

Two of the best carving instructors that I know of are Chris Pye from England, and Mary May in one of the Carolinas.  They both have websites with on-going projects that you can learn a lot from.  They both require a membership fee, however.  Mary May's sharpening videos are probably the most informative for carving tools, and even better than Lee's book, which is good for chisels and planes, but not so much for gouges.  Chris Pye has several books with clearly mapped out lessons that can give you a sense of the steps involved in working out designs and dimensions, as well as using tools properly.  They are all available on Amazon.

 

As for wood, I love castello for all sorts of reasons.  But I just recently got a sample of Alaskan yellow cedar and -- WOW! -- it was really nice.  Just as Chuck say, nice tight grain (it sands up nicely), soft, and with none of the issues of basswood.

 

I also have to say that I only wish I had the natural artistic ability that Chuck demonstrates over and over in all his projects!

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[mikiek]

Probably just missed it, but I don't see any references to magnifiers be they glasses, lenses, scopes, whatever. My eyes are good for about 5 minutes with nothing and then they start crying for help. I use readers sometimes but I don't like that they lose focus so quickly when I back away from a piece of work.

 

Partly wondering about the scopes because I have an opportunity to buy one for < $100. It has stereo eyepieces, a large depth of field, on a moving arm- it was used for inspections. Overkill I know and I wouldn't pay hundreds for a new one but this looks like a good deal. It could be helpful with my ultra high speed engraving tool as the bits for that are tiny. Mag range is 2.5x to 50x.

 

Other than that, what do y'all use?

[Martin W]

Hi Mike -- I think the optical standard for modellers is the Optivisor with the #5 lens.  I use my so much that I invested in a second one to use outside in my workshop.  You can get them from Micromark:

 

http://www.micromark.com/Optivisor-Binocular-Magnifier

 

Though my guess is that you could probably find the same elsewhere for less money. 

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[kurtvd19]

Go online - eBay has them direct from the mfg for a lot less.  Don't waste money on the plastic lenses - get the glass lenses - you will not regret it.

Kurt

[Martin W]

I agree, Kurt.  I bought my second pair from Amazon, and didn't realize till I got them, that they had the plastic lens.  Much inferior.  Maybe I'll learn my lesson.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[mikiek]

How does that headset do size wise? My hat size is 8 3/4.   A lot of the 'one size fits all' headgear products don't fit.

[kurtvd19]

It's adjustable with a ratchet knob that loosens or tightens.  I am sure that the mfg can tell you the max size it will fit.  http://www.doneganoptical.com

The phone is 913-492-2500.

Kurt

[flying_dutchman2]

Hi. 

I have been procrastinating about this but it is time that I start this. The yacht Utrecht has many carvings. I have practiced some simple items from wood but with the many mistakes I have made I am no longer using wood. 

Purchased 1 lbs. of Super Sculpey and I have the following questions. 

 

Is it possible that I make,  say a rectangle piece of clay 1/4" by 2" by 1", bake that, and after it is cooled, carve it? 

 

As Chuck mentioned in an article in Ships and Scale is that you can bake a piece and keep adding to it. 

 

Does the new clay adhere to the baked clay just like that or how is it done? 

 

Thanks 

Marcus 

[John Allen]

Marcus,

 

Chuck Passaro and Dan Vad had some tutorials on sculpy I saved Chucks in favorites but cannot tell you how to get there.

I am sure they would not mind a PM.

 

Had the same problem was doing intricate carving for a stern piece for a war canoe I joined the dumb and dumber club had hrs. into it was using basswood finally it splintered when carving a circle. RE: dumber all through this forum I read over and over NO BASSWOOD for carving to soft, well being smarter than everyone and having a large ego I paid the price. Sculpy for me on my project.

[Borden]

On 10/17/2016 at 2:52 PM, mrjimmy said:

For those who have interest, there is a free book in PDF form written by a retired fighter jet pilot about Netsuke, which is miniature carving fairly close to our scales. Click on the link below:

 

http://sterlingsculptures.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Carving_Netsuke.pdf

 

Jim

great help the mini lathe using drimmel and really like the instructions on how to do things! thanks for the link