Adam W.
A Major Clanger
This is hived off from the Tabernacle Frame thread to keep that about picture frames and also prevent it from becoming a thread about shopping!
As the title says it's about hand cutting stuff which you need a small amount of to finish or make a repair.
WARNING!
There may be a bit about $ha*pening and even bevels (god forbid!). Your sharpening mileage may vary from mine however, and I'm OK with that. If you want to argue about it, please start another thread as it's incidental to what this thread is really about........Doing stuff by hand in short runs.
Sharpening blather is that way .....☞
First up pearls, beads and bead and reel.
I've lumped these together as they all start off with an astragal or torus moulding, cut with a moulding plane, router or bought from a shop.
Pearls & Beads
With a V chisel, knife, pencil or any other marking device, mark out the spacing of the gaps on the moulding.
You can measure, I don't bother and eyeball it as mine's going to be gilded and covered in gesso and a slight difference reveals its hand cut nature.
Remember......"The sculptural qualities of the workshop" or how to excuse wonky work.
With a suitable half round gouge, in this case a 9/5 ( 9 being the sweep and 5 being the size in mm), work along the top of the moulding cutting into the waste with the gouge held bevel up, lifting the handle up as you form the curve.
This forms the bead and the trough between them.
Make the cuts meet up and the waste falls out. It's important to get rid of the waste as you go, as this reduces the pressure on the shape and stops it splitting off. Sweep the floor around you before you start and anything which does fall off, pick up and glue it back on the right way around. You can cover it with tape to hold it in place and come back later and clean it up.
Whatever you do, don't try to flick the waste out with the tool, as you'll send the carved bit flying across the shop.
Again with the bevel up, cut 90º to the previous cuts and form the dome of the pearl. As before start with the handle low......
....push it over the dome and finish with it vertical.
My gouges have no internal bevel, as to make this cut with one I'd have to lift the gouge past 90º and there's no space for that. Plus it makes sharpening more difficult than it needs to be and I just can't be bothered with that, as you may have noticed from other threads.
I'm working right to left, then I work the other way like a typewriter...backwards... and forwards doing exactly the same cut all the way along.
I also carve left handed and right handed, so that I don't have to turn the work around or twist my body into weird positions.
Chop out the waste with the V chisel and tidy up.
Easy, no ?
But ........ you need a hair raisingly sharp gouge for this, especially in soft material like spruce, which is what I'm using.
Bead and reel next up...tomorrow.
As the title says it's about hand cutting stuff which you need a small amount of to finish or make a repair.
WARNING!
There may be a bit about $ha*pening and even bevels (god forbid!). Your sharpening mileage may vary from mine however, and I'm OK with that. If you want to argue about it, please start another thread as it's incidental to what this thread is really about........Doing stuff by hand in short runs.
Sharpening blather is that way .....☞
First up pearls, beads and bead and reel.
I've lumped these together as they all start off with an astragal or torus moulding, cut with a moulding plane, router or bought from a shop.
Pearls & Beads
With a V chisel, knife, pencil or any other marking device, mark out the spacing of the gaps on the moulding.
You can measure, I don't bother and eyeball it as mine's going to be gilded and covered in gesso and a slight difference reveals its hand cut nature.
Remember......"The sculptural qualities of the workshop" or how to excuse wonky work.
With a suitable half round gouge, in this case a 9/5 ( 9 being the sweep and 5 being the size in mm), work along the top of the moulding cutting into the waste with the gouge held bevel up, lifting the handle up as you form the curve.
This forms the bead and the trough between them.
Make the cuts meet up and the waste falls out. It's important to get rid of the waste as you go, as this reduces the pressure on the shape and stops it splitting off. Sweep the floor around you before you start and anything which does fall off, pick up and glue it back on the right way around. You can cover it with tape to hold it in place and come back later and clean it up.
Whatever you do, don't try to flick the waste out with the tool, as you'll send the carved bit flying across the shop.
Again with the bevel up, cut 90º to the previous cuts and form the dome of the pearl. As before start with the handle low......
....push it over the dome and finish with it vertical.
My gouges have no internal bevel, as to make this cut with one I'd have to lift the gouge past 90º and there's no space for that. Plus it makes sharpening more difficult than it needs to be and I just can't be bothered with that, as you may have noticed from other threads.
I'm working right to left, then I work the other way like a typewriter...backwards... and forwards doing exactly the same cut all the way along.
I also carve left handed and right handed, so that I don't have to turn the work around or twist my body into weird positions.
Chop out the waste with the V chisel and tidy up.
Easy, no ?
But ........ you need a hair raisingly sharp gouge for this, especially in soft material like spruce, which is what I'm using.
Bead and reel next up...tomorrow.
Last edited:
