Carving from Belgorod

[BANYAN]

Very nice work (again) - thanks also for showing the process which is invaluable info for many.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[vossiewulf]

Between Alexander and Gaetan and his Le Fleuron, I need a new superlative dictionary. I'm running out

 

Looks amazing as usual Alexander!

[Jeronimo]

Hello Alexander.

Fantastic work.

Karl

[korablik1979]

Many thanks to all for your kind words. I'm glad you like my work.

[korablik1979]

Between Alexander and Gaetan and his Le Fleuron, I need a new superlative dictionary. I'm running out

 

 

Hello, vossiewulf.

I still understand very little English and did not understand what you wanted to write.

Who's Gaetan? I tried to find information in Google, but found nothing. Probably, it is the master, made a model of the ship ... I understand correctly? I have in my collection of photos there are many different models of ships, among them there are several variants of this "French", but I, unfortunately, do not know the names of the authors.

And why do you need a dictionary for Le Fleuron? It's bad when I know a foreign language only through Google's translation.

 

PS I recently started to learn English. I decided to learn with help of movies with subtitles to see and written text and try to pronounce the sentence. I took this one of my favorite movie "Forrest Gump." And I'm good at doing it. But after many painstaking hours, I came across a very difficult phrase: "I could eat about a million and a half of these ..." © 

[Landrotten Highlander]

Hello Alexander,

 

vossiewulf was referring to this blog http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/327-le-fleuron-by-gaetan-bordeleau-124/

Gaetan is the person who has just finished building a beatiful model of the French ship 'Le Fleuron'.

 

The 'dictionary' he refers to is one way of saying he is running out of words to describe how good your work is (and that of Gaetan) - and I agree.

 

Hope this helps with understanding.

 

Slainte (this is a Gaelic greeting)

Peter

Edited February 10, 2017 by Landrotten Highlander

[albert]

Hello Alex,your carving is very very nice.

[korablik1979]

Hello Alexander,

 

vossiewulf was referring to this blog http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/327-le-fleuron-by-gaetan-bordeleau-124/

Gaetan is the person who has just finished building a beatiful model of the French ship 'Le Fleuron'.

 

The 'dictionary' he refers to is one way of saying he is running out of words to describe how good your work is (and that of Gaetan) - and I agree.

 

Hope this helps with understanding.

 

Slainte (this is a Gaelic greeting)

Peter

Hello, Landrotten Hignlander

Thank you very much for your help in understanding. Now I understood everything.

 

PS Really an amazing model of the ship. I never saw her before. Now I know.

[korablik1979]

Hello, Alberto.

Thanks for the kind words.

[korablik1979]

Thank you.

Work is still much to do. If I have health, and continuing to work with thread is bound to be.

[korablik1979]

Oh! How here everything has changed! Just like after the repair: all repainted, new wallpaper pasted. I can smell the paint, the wood and new things. 

[korablik1979]

I continue to work on a set of threads for seventy-gun gunships.
Decorative endings of regels

[BANYAN]

Stunning work yet again Alexander, those look superb.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[vossiewulf]

First Alexander, good luck on learning English. In some ways I think it's about the worst of the choices for the international language. First, it's actually three languages merged, old English and old Norse and the language of the Normans, plus a considerable number of words from Latin. And if you compare English and Spanish, English has approximately three times the words Spanish has. And it has more exceptions to the rules than any language I'm aware of and pronunciation that makes pretty much zero sense. So good luck

 

Your work as usual is beautiful! We call that traditional acanthus patterns, based on a Mediterranean plant called acanthus. Here is a good example.

 

Also, Gaetan's next project is a 1:24 scale 74 gun French ship. It's going to be HUGE, close to 3 meters when finished. Make sure you follow his progress, it's amazing.

 

I have yet to start actually carving with them, but I am using Mikhail's tools daily working on my ship. I've been telling people to not think of them only as tools for carving, but the best micro tools for making small wood joints on ships. They're a real joy to use.

 

For example, try finding another tool that could cut a planking rabbet like in the image below. Of course it makes more sense to cut that rabbet before the stem piece is attached to the ship, but the kit doesn't call for a rabbet here and I didn't think of cutting one until I received Mikhail's tools. And the wood of the stem piece is cocobolo, not at all easy to carve.

 

I am considering taking them to my lathe though and remove the handle, leaving just enough wood for a threaded insert. I could then switch between the palm and pencil type handles depending on application. I also wish Mikhail would make it possible to completely remove the tool from the handle, like gravers used for engraving. I am trying to design a sharpening jig for the straight and skew chisels, and it would be much easier if there was no handle on the tools at the time we sharpen.

 

[korablik1979]

13 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Потрясающая работа еще раз Александр, те выглядят великолепно.

 

ура

 

похлопывание

Thank you. I am pleased to. Glad you liked it.

[korablik1979]

Good afternoon, Jay.
Thank you for high valuation my work. And thanks for your expanded, great comments. You give a lot of useful links and tips. They are useful and interesting for me. Unfortunately, I do not know this site well and many of the reviews of ships are unknown to me. Recently, I generally very rarely look through the forums. Even their own, Russian, where there are masters speaking in Russian. There are many reasons for this, I will not list them, it is a separate topic for conversation, which will lead away from the topic, flood.
So when you give me links on topics with ships, they become discoveries for me, I leaf through them for a long time, read and watch. This theme with the construction of a large 74 cannon ship, I have already saved myself in the bookmarks. Very interesting. I like it. The Russian forum has a similar theme, it talks about the construction of a giant model of the ship "Frenchman". It makes a very interesting master from Ukraine.

 

With the study of English , unfortunately, things are going badly. I can not regularly give this time. I'm sure this can be seen from the fact that my text is as wrong as it was before.

I'm very glad that you liked the instrument. It is really well suited not only for threading, but also for any carpentry work for the ship model. Especially it concerns the manufacture of admiralty models where there is a need to manufacture grooves, spikes, bevels and other engineering joints. Handles chisels is a separate topic. My first set was with pens in the form of pencils. I work them constantly, this is my main tool for several years. This year I ordered another set. I already showed it in the photo before. He has dark handles. They are similar in form to drops. For me, this form is most convenient. And the practice with these chisels has already proved this to me. With these pens I can hold the instrument as Karadash. Wherever I need it, I can hold the handle in my fist, press the palm of my hand against of my the back head tool handle.
Each master has his own characteristics and each master makes the tool so that it is convenient for work. As well as before, sabers were made, swords, so that they were individual, lay perfectly in the hand of their master.

P.S. Thanks again, and I wish you success in your work.

[vossiewulf]

Although English clearly isn't your native language, you are perfectly understandable, so don't underestimate your English. As I said, I think it is a very hard language to learn and you've already reached a point where you can discuss complex subjects successfully, so you are doing well.

 

That ship is also amazing, do you have a link to the project? I'd love to see the progress on it.

 

Speaking on engraving, have you looked at engraving blocks to hold your work when you are carving? It seems to be a perfect tool for the purpose, I have a GRS block and intend to use it for carving- it can be locked so it doesn't move, and you can also unlock it and easily move the work around to any orientation you need. In fact if you look at my build log, I have been using my engraving block to hold the entire ship - the block weighs about 15lbs, it's filled with lead, so it can be used to work and relatively large objects. Here's a video of one in use.

 

And I agree about tool handles, anyone who is serious about the work will eventually make handles that fit them and the type of work they do. The only reason I want pencil-type handles is for wood joint work on my ship, sometimes the teardrop shaped handle is too big, I also want something narrow that can fit into tight corners.

[korablik1979]

Here is a link to the topic with the construction of "Frenchman":

http://forum.modelsworld.ru/topic13984.html

About the clamp you misunderstood me. I meant the vice in order to clamp the chisels for sharpening. For me, sharpening such a small tool causes some difficulties. My manual sharpening does not allow to perfectly observe the correct position of the blades. Because of this, the shape of the blades gradually loses the correct geometry. And my have to sweat for a long time to achieve corrections.
 So now I want to come up with sharpening devices that will help to keep the right slopes and angles.
In my work with threading, I do not use similar stands for fixing parts. I have already shown in the photos how I conduct my work. First, in the workpiece I make a groove under the seat for the stem. Then from the bar I make the shape of the stem and glue the workpiece onto it. I keep the workpiece on the template in my hand and cut it. If the part is flat, then I just stick it on a flat bar. I can put it on the table and hold it in my hands when it is needed. After the thread, I heat the part on the template with hot air using a hair dryer. The glue softens and the part is neatly removed. Somewhere here there is such a picture, somehow my wife took pictures of me. That's all, everything is quite simple and primitive.

[vossiewulf]

For the  straight and skew chisels a graver sharpening fixture will work to maintain the correct geometry, gravers are sharpened with flat bevels like we want on our chisels.

 

But as you see they're expensive and they don't address sharpening of the U-shaped gouges.

 

So I have been designing a jig in my head for the gouges, and a different jig for the chisels. The one for the chisels is pretty simple, the one for the gouges is not simple as what I want to do is have the tool rotate along its long axis while the jig moves forward on the sharpening stone so the entire edge is sharpened equally.

 

I'll get a prototype going and show it to you once it's working.

[korablik1979]

The fact that the semicircular chisels are made without advancement the middle (like the protruding lip of an offended child), but even has its own meaning.
First, straight edge allows you to do even drilling. Already more than once I enjoyed this advantage. For example, it was necessary to make a depression on a relief surface. A mini drill and boer would not help, the boer would simply run off to the side and crush the figure. But the semicircular chisel helped. I needed only to pin it in the right place and then make light circular motions. And she created the perfect circle herself. In the same way, I did my eyes in some cases with my figures. For example, a British lion. Only after the designation of the eye radius was the tree removed not inside the circle, but outside.

 If the chisel had protruding edge, then it was no longer possible for her to perform such an operation.
Secondly, it matters when sharpening. Believe me, it's not so easy to sharpen the radii of millimetric dimensions with protruding. And if you want to make the  jig, then you have to do them for each chisel separately, because each diameter will have a different point of taper. 
When working with a micro tool, the protruding has no obvious advantages, except for the habit that large chisels have this form, but there are disadvantages. The shape without sharpening is not accidental. Try to work for some months with this tool and you will get used to and understand the meaning of such a tool geometry.
Although, of course, every master has his own preferences and he decides how it is more convenient for him to work.

[albert]

Hello Alex very master carving your work is fantastic.

[mischief]

Greetings Master Alex

 

I love the way you conduct your tools to produce such GREAT work. It is what my Grandfather called "dancing with the wood"

I  use Sail needles, larger selection,  for making  micro wood cutting tools, however, I do not have the same final results that you do.

Thank you for all the EYE CANDY

 

Ed

[vossiewulf]

Thank you Alexander, I think I followed that, and I will try it - I mean the making of eyes. I understand what you mean about no protrusion of the lower edge of the semicircle gouges.

 

Below are some photos of various jigs for sharpening gravers. These are what I have been looking at while thinking about making jigs for Mikhail's tools. As you see, a jig for the straight chisels should be very simple. With a little added complexity, it could handle the straight and skew chisels. This is what I intend to make first, I have some 1/4" ball bearings sitting around that are a good size.

 

For the semicircular gouges, I am still thinking. Basically the idea is that the jig axle and the piece that holds the gouge are geared together such that as the jig rolls forward, the piece that is holding the gouge turns along its long axis. I think that will work but I'm not completely sure.

 

This is the "Crocker Pattern" graver sharpener. They are made by many companies. I don't think they'll work without significant modification or making Mikhail's tools separate from the handles.

This is a Bergeon 2461, not expensive, I ordered one to try it. It's for sharpening screwdrivers.

 

This is a Bergeon 2462 graver sharpener, fairly expensive for what it is, not sure if I will try it.

All brass version.

 

This is a very cheap graver sharpener you can find all over EBay and any jewelry or watch making supply companies.

 

This is one guy's home-made jig. I like it.

 

Another home-made jig. More sturdy but only good for one sharpening angle.

 

And a seriously cheap and easy home-made jig

[vossiewulf]

Alexander, what are the typical rough sizes of the pieces? I need to buy some wood if I'm ever going to do some carving with these, and my collection mostly consists of furniture hardwoods and exotics and basswood, I don't have any thicker pieces of boxwood or pear, although I do have some holly that seems to carve well. Have you tried holly?

 

Anyway, what are the typical stock sizes? 3cm x 3cm? Bigger?

[vossiewulf]

Maybe something like this. The disadvantage is we are not registering off the flat back of some of the tools, but the advantage is that I think maybe this will work for literally everything but the angled cutters (skew chisels). If I drill and ream the hole to .111" that would be .001" over the round tap dimension and therefore we could turn the tool by hand.

 

Although there is some space to be seen between the tool handle ferrule and the jig, the idea is that ferrule sets the correct angle for grinding the straight cutters (chisels) and the semi circle cutters (gouges). We prevent the chisels from rotating with the screw, the gouges turn freely and we'll have to keep forward pressure to maintain the angle.

 

I'm largely certain this will also work for the the spoon cutters as well, which surprised me. On the spoon tools, Mikhail has ground them such that the cutting edge is a radius centered on the tap center and therefore can be sharpened accurately by turning along their length. The only difference is they will not extend as far from the jig to account for their grind angle and will require a spacer, maybe one for each tool, so the brass handle ferrule can still set the correct angle.

 

May get the skew chisels with the same jig if we drill holes 45 degrees right and left of the central straight hole. I'll have to look at the geometry.

 

Oh the second ball bearing that is transparent is where I thought one would need to be to behind the tool's center of gravity (CG) and therefore naturally cause the jig to fall forward on the tool cutting edge. Actually that's not right, the jig itself is falling forward and it will have a reasonable mass. I will just have to see where the CG is when the tool is attached to the jig.

 

[korablik1979]

Wow! Jay, you put me in the freezer. I sat with my mouth open for several minutes after your posts. This is a whole thesis! You understood very well what I meant when I wrote about the jig. But now I'm worried. Do you have video cameras and microphones to watch over my desk or can you read minds from a distance? I'll go make a hat from foil just in case.
If I say without jokes, I do not even know what can be added to your words, you have already written everything. Bravo!

[korablik1979]

On 18.03.2017 at 3:57 PM, albert said:

Привет Алекс очень мастер резьбы вашей работы является фантастическим.

Thank you, Albert. You are as always kind to me.

[korablik1979]

16 hours ago, mischief said:

Привет Мастер Алекс

 

Мне нравится, как вы проводите свои инструменты, чтобы произвести такую большую работу. Это то, что мой дед назвал "танцы с деревом"

Я использую Sail иглы, больший выбор, для изготовления микро инструменты для резки древесины, однако, я не имеют те же конечные результаты, которые вы делаете.

Спасибо за всю конфету EYE

 

издание

Hello.
I'm glad that you liked my work. I am sure for every artist is important when he is understood and evaluated. Thank you for your kind words and appreciation.
Separately, I want to say thank you for the very beautiful expression of your grandfather. It sounds amazingly accurate and beautiful. I am sure that now I will never forget it, I will also use these words myself. They really liked me, I can not imagine how you could think сome up with a thing. This is genius. Thank you.

P.S. Most likely it is written with errors, I hope you could correctly understand what I wanted to write. Sorry for the mistakes.

[vossiewulf]

Great! I'm glad it sounds like it should work to you also. I don't have any brass in the right size, I need like 2cm x 4-5cm x 2.5cm. I think I have steel dowel pins in the right size for the ball bearings. I'll also find a good brass screw that won't mark the steel of the tools.

 

I need to make some progress on my ship but I'll work in some time on this also, I'm using Mikhail's tools regularly so I want a good sharpening solution in hand soon.

 

By the way, in following my thesis, you missed a question I had up there about typical sizes for wood for this type of carving  See the post between the one with photos of other jigs and the post that has my design. I want to order some wood and I'd very much appreciate your advice on sizes.

[korablik1979]

I'm sorry, Jay.
I really missed this post.

 

Oops. In this question it is impossible to give one answer. There is no concept of a standard size for a figurine. At me all figures turn out in different sizes. And this is natural. For one model, you need a small bust, and for another, a full-length figure or even several figures together: a rider on a horse or a multi-figure composition. Each master and customer does on different scales. The biggest figure that I have encountered in my work so far is the British lion. It was about 15 centimeters in length. And the smallest detail was about 1 centimeter. I even had such that almost simultaneously I was ordered the same order by two people. Both collected the same set, the same firm. But when each of them sent their sizes and wishes, I was surprised to find that the figures in size would be different.
One of the orders I showed, I will soon show another one and it will become clear what I have just written about.

 

Here is the only advice: if you choose from several options for the size of wooden bars, it is more profitable to have a larger one. After all, from a large bar you can make a large figure and or few small ones, and from a small workpiece a large figure will not work. You can, of course, make it a component of several parts, but in each case you need to look separately.

Here is a photo that shows how different figures look next to each other.

 

 

I took this picture for the customer. He sent his block of wood so that the figure would ideally match in color. I photographed the report how much material I had to spend and how much I left for other details. From the fragment of the bar, which is already missing, Minerva was made.