How do you keep it clean?

First timer building a Colonial 54 kit and working with wood. I am wondering how to keep my stock clean while working and drawing on wood? It seems to get darker and darker and wondering if this is going to show up in my finish? The authuridus is acting up with so many washings of my hands. Hate the plastic gloves too. Also I have a new appreciation for you wood workers as I stumble thru my carvings on curly maple. Beautiful looking wood put a curse to work with. Every 1/4" you have to deal with grain, knots and who know what else! My hats off to all of you.......Labrat

I finished a fusil de chasse almost two years ago. And yes the stock was pretty dirty by the time I got to the place where all the parts were where they should be. All that dirt, and schmurtz is going to be removed by the rasping and sanding stages of the work. Don't worry about it.

My stocks always wind up turning gray from handling, and using inletting black. Not to worry, it all comes clean with sand paper.

Before any carving is done, the stock should be completely scraped, sanded, ready for finish. At this point, your hands should be clean. No more inletting black, soot, etc.
Some times, it pays to wear thin cotton inspectors gloves. BUT, if your hands and bench are clean, what little transfer there is, can be removed with light sanding, and/or scraping for final finish.
Good luck!

I use Prussian Blue {Permatex} for inletting and it doesn't become absorbed into the wood and seems to disappear w/ the final sanding....no special work is needed. It's easily applied very sparsely and it's the only spotting compound I've ever used.....Fred

Use sharpie marker for inletting.

To clean the wood a big gum eraser is excellent.

A little "dirty wood" is to be expected and will be removed in the final sanding/scraping prior to applying the finish. At that time your hands should be clean and the wood should no longer be subject to dirty hand prints.

Thank You for the good info. I am drawing on the stock freehand with a soft pencil with lots of erasing. When I have the correct design I start carving working around the pencil marks. After that I start sanding the area. My work bench could use some cleaning and I may start using a glove on my support hand. I'm glade this dirt won't hurt the final finish.........Labrat

I've never used gloves. Just make sure your hands are clean and you will be fine. A gloved hand to me is not a hand I'd use for carving, etc. Too much chance a tool could slip etc.

Makes sense.. I really do hate gloves so I'll have to pay close attention to keeping my hands as clean as possible. I've already cut myself a few times.