Techniques of Relief Wood Carving

The quick and dirty version of carving

One must begin with a design, be it already made or drawn. Here above is a Celtic circle pattern that may have been caved in the time of the Anglo Saxons. This is only to show what is required for a pattern although complex, if one takes the different elements, one will see that it can be simple. Although you may be new at this craft I Charles suggest to begin with a simpler project. Patterns and designs can be found on the chat room and http://norsedesigns.blogspot.com

After choosing a pattern or drawing your own, a bench and SHARPEN chisels and gouges are required to do the carving. Please do not use the dollar special chisels and gouges as these have a tendency to not hold their sharpness. You will need a few gouges to begin with, and can if interested in purchasing more as you become accustom to the craft. In during sharping, please use a wet stone, and use a slide way action to sharpen the gouge, than use a leather belt and with a side action to clean any burrs from the blade. It is very important to keep your gouges sharp. If you feel drag on the gouge,and a rough texture appears on the wood stock it is time to sharpen the gouge. IT IS IMPORTANT TO MASTER THIS TECHNIQUE in sharping. A dull gouge or chisel can damage the project or worse yet you may be injured in using a dull tool. In the future there will be a post in this section on how to sharpen a gouge or chisel.

The next step, is what am I going to carve it from. The best materials to learn in the carving technique is basswood or clear white pine. Make sure that the grain is straight, and try to avoid knots. You do not want figure wood to start off with. Lady Christiana begun with birch, although hard it is a stable wood that has no pitch pockets. If one hits a pitch pocket, and depending on the depth of the pocket, the carving elements will have to be deepen to remove the pitch pocket. Other woods that respond nicely to carving, and have stable grain but can be expensive is tulip wood, and maple - these woods are hard and as such should not be used by a first timer to this art.

In setting up it is recommended to have a stable, lit area - use adjustable spot full spectrum lighting and set to one side to cast a shadow on the relief carving. This will indicate where future work will be needed and cleanup of the elements. The light should be adjustable to do this, and if at possible it is nice to work with natural light. Clamps for clamping the stock will be required as one carves. Here shown is one of Charles Benches for woodcarving, with a students piece been prepared for relief carving. Seen here the stock is clamped and the gouges are laid out already sharpen to use.

On another carving bench is Charles carving a Norseman on a horse. The beginning of preparing the carving to receive its carving elements. Note the position of the gouge as he begins to do the set.

Techniques in Relief Carving: Note: do not expect your first piece to turn out like a professional old world wood carver's piece, as this takes years to learn, knowledge of wood species and direction of wood grain, and of course the ability of sharp gouges. This takes time and experience to learn this old craft.

The  pattern of carving, which can be three dimensional figures, to relief carving must start out as a pattern either from designs or from your own imagination. The pattern must be transfer to wood stock before carving can be done. One must prepare the stop before one can carve. Setting down is a two stage process: first involving the stop cut, which is where the chisel is used to make the stop, and than with a gouge: a woodcarving with a radius curve is used to remove the unwanted wood from the carving as shown in the above photo above. This process is to be repeated until the required preferred depth of the ground is reached - Ground shown in photo above: ground is how far the background is below the surface on a relief carving. With some designs besides taking down the exterior edge of the pattern, some of the interior design may require it be taken down in the same manner - photo below shows this technique.

Carving elements: As the carving progresses one will come to the area of where the carving overlaps itself where a stop is preformed, and bringing down the level of the carving about half way to the ground, so that the carvings look like it flows through the upper part of the element as shown in the above photo.

Round the upper edge of the element within the carving is the ext step. Once the radius is carved, a cut back on the bottom edge of the element is required, and clean up of the carving so that there is no chips or slivers. Running your hand over the carving is required to assure there are no slivers and or no rough spots. (heaven forbid that one picks up a sliver so be careful in during this step) and if it is clean to the touch, the carving is complete. The carving is now ready for a suitable finish at this time.

Tip 1: Keep your gouges sharp

Tip 2: Make sure your work piece is well clamp to prevent movement of the piece while working on it

Tip 3: Transfer your design to wood (This can be done prior to step 2)

Optional -  If the wood is dry - use mineral oil to make the wood less likely to split. Do this before gluing the design (on a piece of paper) to the stock.

Tip 4: Keep your gouges sharp

Tip 5: Set your stops and use gouges to attain the ground

Tip 6: Sharpen your gouges

Tip 7: Set your elements

Tip 8: Sharpen your gouges

Tip 9: do any relief grounding and stop cuts when it comes to two different grounds

Tip 10 Sharpe  your gouges

Tip 11:  Cut back on the bottom edge of the carving details

Tip 12: Sharpen your gouges

Tip 13: rub your hand over the carving surface checking for imperfections

Tip 14: Sharpen your gouges

Tip 15: clean up of the carving surface

Tip 16: Repeat tips 14 and 15 to completed

Tip17: finish with a good quality finish

You are now complete - time to do another one