LED lighting advice for carving?

[Scruples]

I think you might consider a couple of small LED floodlights either side and slightly behind you with scrim (white fleece) over them to soften the light.
On the other hand, if you need the hard light to show deep shadows then leave off the scrim. For scrim you could just buy garden fleece as it's so cheap and readily available.

 

[TheUnicorn]

I have four overhead LED strips as my main workshop (garage) lighting, they are switched so they come on in pairs, diagonally rather than front and back, so I can have no shadow (4) or shadow from one side or the other, the lights are fairly diffuse so it is not a particuarly hard shadow. In addition I have a frame from an old halogen worklight, which I've put a 10w Led spotlight on, good for when you need exact control over height and direction of the light, but truthfully not often used as it is a big clumsy frame that gets in the way, I've also got an 18v light that works with my drill battery and is a useful quick grab.

 

[Stuart Moffat]

In my old shed, I had a lot of fluorescent lighting and white walls and ceiling, but still needed spot lights, and small led lamps on individual machines, e.g. Lighting the bandsaw blade. I built a new workshop 2 years ago, and the main room is 10 M x 5M . I put in 8 square LED panels in 2 rows . i don’t suffer from shadows, and if you cross one hand over the other, it proves the point. I no longer have any other lighting in there at all, even though my eyes these days are crap.
Stuart

 

[Ttrees]

Having lived in a flat in a town with abundant charity shops,
I used to buy lots of bedside lamps, thinking I would be able to make lots of proper lamps, got the old box ali tv aerials, but never got round to getting the springs, might have been able to use piano wire, had I known you can wrap it.
What I noticed compared to a proper one was a significant improvement with a larger shade, so I made a few with an 8" shade which never got used

Found these old ones I think made in Spain on the bay, bout a tenner each
good chance for these to be destined for the bay, as without base, unusable.
One can simply reposition the lamp with two fingers, no effort required,
and with a 7.5" shade ample.
A must, and unmatched in my opinion.
Was highly skeptical about the new gen bulbs with the plastic necks,
they are great, and seemingly durable enough too.

Be aware of the ones on the bay if similar looking to the black one,
these are not correct measurements!

These ones are in that Swedish furniture warehouse for little over a tenner, might certainly be worth a punt.
Search for "tertial lamp" and if you do, please give a review, as it's hard to get an
impression if they are as large as the old ones.

Tom

 

[Trextr7monkey]

Hi we had all sorts of machine lights at work but at home I have found an old medical inspection lamp to be very useful on the lathe- it has a high power level and a dimmer level as well as being manipulated like the conventional desk lamp.

 

[stuckinthemud]

Remember that the point of lighting for carving is to duplicate the lighting the carving will have when mounted in its forever home. What you say about the shadows showing the lettering is correct so it is really important you use the same lighting as the place the carving will be sited