Been praticing carving

[agill]

I've have been practicing carving today. This is similar to John Greff style. I applied LMF nut brown(on a piece of maple) and took the picture while it was wet. I will practice some more, but so far I like my results.

 

[Onojutta]

I'd be satisfied with that! Makes me want to go get some tools and practice myself!

 

[Allan Gray]

Looks good!

I've been wondering how your York build's been coming along.

The biggest obstacle with carving is knowing how to draw. You obviously have that down.
If I may offer some constructive advise; work on getting your scrolls rounder, avoiding those straight spots. Perhaps make your first cuts very lightly and controlled, following through with deeper cuts that will tend to "track" your first cut. It's especially not easy with curly Maple.
Very wise to get your feet wet with a scrap piece. :hatsoff:

 

[agill]

Thanks Onojutta.

 

[agill]

Looks good!

I've been wondering how your York build's been coming along.

The biggest obstacle with carving is knowing how to draw. You obviously have that down.
If I may offer some constructive advise; work on getting your scrolls rounder, avoiding those straight spots. Perhaps make your first cuts very lightly and controlled, following through with deeper cuts that will tend to "track" your first cut. It's especially not easy with curly Maple.
Very wise to get your feet wet with a scrap piece. :hatsoff:

Thank you Mr. Gray. I will practice and keep that in mind and hopefuly I will improve. The drawing on the rifle is done,but I might revise it some. It looks better than my practice piece. I drew the practice piece in less than 5 minutes. I took about 30 minutes on the rifle.

 

[Onojutta]

The biggest obstacle with carving is knowing how to draw.

I'm screwed.

 

[Zonie]

You don't have to be an expert at drawing if you use some drafting tools called Ellipse Templates.

While they are not inexpensive they are excellent for drawing smooth curves like those used on the Classic guns.

If I were to suggest which ones to buy from the following link it would be TD400 (Isometric ellipse Guide) and a TD1267 60 degree Ellipse Master.
ELLIPSE GUIDES

I would also go to a local Office supply store and buy a French Curve for a couple of bucks or I would order a 971406 and a 971408 French curve from the same place I linked above.
FRENCH CURVES

With these templates you can construct hundreds of patterns.
Part of the trick to using the ellipse guide is to use several different sized ellipses to make a form.
That is, you might start with a 1 1/2 inch 60 degree shape and draw 1/4 of it. Then change to a 3/4 inch 60 degree for the next 1/4. Changing to the 30 degree 3/4 inch for the next 1/4 and finishing with the 30 degree 3/8 inch size.
This will make a nice sweeping ever diminishing spiral that will look very nice.

As I say, there are thousands of combinitations of using these templates to create very nice "drawings"
The Large arcs of the French curves can be used to make the larger sweeping forms that can either exist all by themselves or can lead into a decreasing spiral like I described above.

My biggest suggestion is if you are not trying to duplicate a old masters work and you're trying to just create your own work get several pieces of paper and start sketching.
Then use the templates to smooth and blend the sketches until you happy.
Then use the templates to draw the pattern on the stock.

For me, it is very common to draw the pattern as many as 8-10 times before it looks Really Good to me. I buy a lot of erasers when I'm getting to the carving stage. :rotf:

 

[Allan Gray]

Great stuff that I've over looked.

I have several of these templates that have helped my weary eyes or shakey hands.

I'll also go for a gouge chisel that is close to the radius of the curve of the scroll I want to achieve and use it to "punch in" a starting cut.

 

[Onojutta]

Flint,
What size gouges and parting tools did you use for that drawing above?

What do the rest of you guys use? I need to start investing in some carving tools in the next couple months.

 

[rich pierce]

Good start and you get extra credit for practicing. :thumbsup: Next I'd focus on removing and smoothing the background and beveling the insides of your C-scrolls a little more smoothly. Are you using a V-chisel to outline the design or are you using the stabbing method?

 

[agill]

Flint,
What size gouges and parting tools did you use for that drawing above?

What do the rest of you guys use? I need to start investing in some carving tools in the next couple months.

I used the Stabbing In and Paring method I saw in Jack Brooks' Begiining Carving.I did not use a V parting tool.

Pfeil Tools used:

No.1 8mm skew
No.3 12mm gouge
No.7 4mm gouge
No.7 6mm gouge
No.7 10mm gouge
No.7 18mm gouge
No.8 4mm gouge
No.8 7mm gouge
No.5 20mm gouge
No. 9 7mm gouge

There are some others that Jack Brooks had in his list, but the store was out of stock.

 

[agill]

Good start and you get extra credit for practicing. :thumbsup: Next I'd focus on removing and smoothing the background and beveling the insides of your C-scrolls a little more smoothly. Are you using a V-chisel to outline the design or are you using the stabbing method?

Stabbing in and Paring method was used. I tried the V parting tool. I was no good at that at all. More practice to do. Thanks for advice. Allen

 

[agill]

Good advice. No. I am not an artist. I have no artistic bones in my body. I just sat down and drew and drew and drew and mostly erased what I drew until I liked it. I also have Shumway's Pennsyvania Longrifles of Note to copy the work of John Graeff with a little difference due to the stock geometry and also Ron Ehlert's Assembling Kentucky Rifles from a Kit where he copied the same carving style. Jack Brooks' Beginning Carving and Pfeil tools have been an enormous help.

 

[Allan Gray]

The Pfeil tools have been my weapon of choice too for many years. Great investment. I have rarely used a V parting tool,especially in the larger sizes...too hard to get them to do what you want.

For the majority of work that I've done, I've found myself reaching for various sweeps of gouges and flat chisels. A good skew chisel is a must, along with a good ol' fashioned X-ACTO knife and a well sharpened scraper.