Fine Relief Carving Dremel vs Hand Tools

[Mikegtr]

Those of you who do fine relief carving (example: to relief carve the heel of a banjo neck or the head stock of a banjo) do you prefer to use the Dremel or to hand carve? Any difference to the cut? Can you tell which looks better? Could you say, if the Dremel was used, something like: 'That's a nice bit of hand carving!'

As new to relief carving can you recommend any good books on the subject?

Many thanks.

 

[Ttrees]

I guess Gibson master museum do likewise with banjos too, just the first thing popped in me head.

I think with the rotary tools used being so small, it'd be hard to say otherwise, unless it's CNC'd
and you likely would use an arsenal of scrapers, chisels, sanding blocks afterwards.

Unless your one of the select few of unplugged woodworkers who strive to use no electricity for their work (apart from the lights of course)
or possibly for other reasons, i.e
What would the Amish or Mennonite communities say?

Do they buy banjos?

 

[Argus]

1 - You could use either..... but I have always used hand tools.
R.R.RAZOR sharp.... much more control.

2 - Any books by Chris Pye. He also has an online subscribing course which is very good; covers all aspects of carving from scratch to very complex - you may dip in and out as you wish.

https://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/woodcarvingtutorials
There are specialists luthiers who specialise in instruments, though.....

 

[stuckinthemud]

Always palm gouges and knives for carving for me. I just don’t like noisy dust makers, unlike many in the carving community. Search Pinterest for “carve banjo neck” , lots of fabulous examples in there

 

[stuckinthemud]

Re-reading the OP, rotary carving done well looks a lot like edge-tool work and if done badly can be cleaned up to look like edge-tool work and is often described as hand carving and/or hand finished carving, though whether it qualifies as such is a long running debate . There is an enormous amount of info on-line and in paper but maybe if you have specific questions just post them here???

My feeling is the guitar picture is rotary carved, with unclear detailing and zero attempt at cleaning up or undercutting, the edges are far from crisp , but maybe it’s just a bad photo?

GS Carson does some lovely work