As you know, stropping keeps your knife sharp between cuts. This quarterly e-newsletter is our way of staying in touch with you between issues of Woodcarving Illustrated. Here we share projects, features, tips, insider scoop on books and authors, club news, and more. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it for you! Click here to sign up for Strop Talk.

Issue 7

Issue 6

Issue 5

Issue 4

Issue 3

Issue 2

Issue 1

The post Strop Talk appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

By Roger Beane

Pear-shaped wood turnings allow you to skip the roughing out phase and jump right to carving the details. Plus, the shape offers infinite design possibilities.

I bought two of these turnings at a carving show and carved them both while there. Before the show ended, I’d bought all of the pears the vendor had at his table, and then ordered more to be delivered to me later. The shape is so versatile that you’ll never run out of uses for it. Before you begin carving, check out how to have an easy cleanup with just freezer paper and a few pieces of tape.

Getting Started

Trace or sketch the pattern onto the pear. Carve along the pencil lines with a 1/4″ (6mm) V-tool and make stop cuts in the V-grooves with a knife.

Prepping and Carving

I adapt my typical face-carving techniques to the shape of this blank. Remember that the highest point of the face is the tip of the nose, the deepest part of the face is the eye sockets, and the narrowest part of the face is at the temples.

I add the wrinkles using V-tools and use 5/32″ (4mm) and 3/16″ (5mm) #11 gouges to add the hair and beard texture. When texturing the hair, make sure there are no straight lines. Carve a series of lazy S’s and C’s. Vary the depth of your cuts and do not leave any flat spaces.

Painting and Finishing

Wash your carving with Simple Green and water. Remove the excess water with a soft cloth or paper towels and immediately start painting (while the carving is still wet). Dilute the acrylic paint with water to create a wash. Refer to the Painting Notes for the colors I used.

While the paint dries, squeeze a 2″ (5.1cm)-long strip of burnt sienna oil paint into a pint jar full of mineral spirits to dissolve the paint. Then, add the pint of dissolved paint to a quart of boiled linseed oil. Mix thoroughly and after the paint is dry, dip your carving into the mixture and remove. Let it sit for five minutes, and then wipe off the excess with a paper towel. Dispose of the oil-soaked paper towels carefully; they can spontaneously combust. Allow the carving to dry thoroughly. Then, add the accent colors.

The post Pear-Shaped Santa appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

To protect my workbench, I cover it with freezer paper. Just cut the paper to fit and use blue painter’s tape to secure it in place with the matte side of the paper down. The shiny plastic backing on the paper makes it fairly durable, and it keeps finishes and glue off my workbench.

Keep the small scraps you cut off when fitting the paper to your bench. I use these scraps, shiny side up, as disposable paint palettes. Mix the paints on it, and just roll it up and throw it away when you’re finished painting. Once your workbench is covered, try carving a pear-shaped Santa Claus for your next project!

The post Easy Cleanup appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

By Roman Chernikov

I love chip carving, and I like experimenting with patterns. For a fresh new look, I used traditional chips to create two summer scenes. I use the tiles as coasters, but they would also make great decorations for a memorabilia box or key holder. If you want a more colorful finish, learn how to add stain to make the chip details pop!

Making a Coaster Cut the squares to size. Transfer the patterns to the blanks using a hot tool with a laser print or graphite transfer paper. Strop your knife. I use simple three-corner chips with straight edges to carve these scenes. Refer to the photos to keep track of where the deepest part of the chip should be. Apply several light coats of acrylic spray finish or apply an oil finish, such as walnut, tung, or boiled linseed oil.

TIP Warming Up Carve several chips on a practice board before you start the project. This helps to ensure that your hand position is correct and your knife is sharp. Draw your own practice board or buy a preprinted board.

The post Chip-Carving a Summer Scene appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

By Don Dearolf

Carve these simple designs with just a few tools. The pattern is generic enough that you can easily adapt the design to your favorite bird with only a few knife cuts and some paint. Before making your first cut, check out our exclusive article on adding cushions to your gouge handles.

Carving the Birds

Transfer the pattern to the blank and cut the two profiles with a band saw. Leave the wood thick around the beak. Then, carefully round the sharp corners with a knife. Thin the edges of the tail, but leave the middle thicker to create an oval shape when looking at the end. Carve the eye channels. Then, carve the beak. Burn the outlines of the eyes, around the base of the beak, and the mouth lines. Drill a small hole in the bottom and insert a toothpick (to mount the bird to the base, and to hold the bird while painting).

Painting the Birds

Finish the project with thinned acrylic paints. Apply thin washes of color and build up the color in layers. Use Payne’s grey for the dark parts of the back, burnt umber for the brown areas, and raw sienna for the breast. Then, when the paint is dry, apply a heavily thinned coat of burnt umber to tie everything together.

Paint each eye with full-strength Mars black and allow it to dry. Then add a dot of full-strength burnt umber in the bottom front corner and a titanium white highlight dot in the upper back corner of each eye. When the eyes are fully dry, dry-brush titanium white over the whole piece to highlight the tool marks.

Making the Base

Slice a small section of a tree limb across the grain. Drill a hole matching the diameter of the toothpick in the center of the slice. Apply a clear finish to the base. When it is dry, glue a toothpick into the bottom of the bird and the hole in the base.

The post Carving Folk-Art Birds appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

I’ve tried gloves and padding for my hands, but my palms still hurt after using full size gouges. So, I decided to add ribbed rubber chair tips to my gouge handles, and not only has this helped ease the pain, it has also reduced my carpal tunnel pain.

Measure the end of your gouge handle; I used a circle drafting template, but you could also use calipers. The tips should fit tightly. The tips usually cost around a $1 each and are available in most hardware stores, but I found the largest selection at youngs-inc.com. Choose a tip with a flat bottom, because a rounded bottom will continue to focus the pressure into the center of your palm.

The tips spread out the pressure as I carve, and, as a bonus, the ribs give you another gripping surface. Once you have added the cushioned tips to your handles, test them out on this folk-art bird project.

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The post Cushioning Gouge Handles appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

By Wayne Barton

Chip-carve ornaments are usually based on geometric figures. However, I decided to branch out and make an ornament with a more positive image and organic style. You can display the ornament alone, attach it to the top of a box, or even carve several to decorate a mantel or door frame. In addition to this chip-carved ornament, try your hand at making your own carving knife handle with a block of wood and a few materials and tools.

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The post Chip Carving a Flower appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

The benefits of a custom handle are enormous! You can fit the tool to the exact size of your hand, creating a comfortable grip for a safe, enjoyable carving experience. You can also extend the life of a favorite blade if the handle has become worn or broken. Once you have crafted your own handle, try out your knife by chip carving a flower ornament.

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The post Make Your Own Blade Handle appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

By Michele Parsons

I love to give inspirational gifts around the holidays, as days grow shorter and people start to pine after warmth and sunlight—and what better to deliver inspiration than a few friendly birds? These ornaments can be carved, burned, and finished quickly; they’re also fun and satisfying to make.

I used slices of wood with natural bark edges that you can find at most craft stores for a rustic feel. You could also cut circles from thin basswood or any other wood you prefer. For a different look, enlarge the pattern and make a wall hanging. Before diving in, learn how to keep your woodburner clean in our exclusive article.

Prepping and Carving

Size the pattern to fit your wood. Use graphite paper to transfer the bird-and-branches pattern to the blank. Make stop cuts around all of the lines, and then carve the background down around them with a micromotor with an assortment of small bits or a set of small hand gouges. Then sand around the birds and branches. Focus on making the background smooth for the lettering. Use graphite paper to transfer the lettering to the background. Burn the letters using a small writing nib and, if desired, outline them with a skew nib. Burn the details on the birds and branches. Erase any remaining graphite.

Painting and Finishing

I add color using slightly thinned acrylic paint. Avoid painting over the burned areas because the pigment in the paint covers the burned texture. Finish with a few coats of semi-gloss spray lacquer.

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The post Carve & Burn Bird Ornaments appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

By Lora S. Irish

As you work with any woodburning tool, carbon deposits will build up on the tip. The hotter the temperature, the quicker the deposits develop. This black buildup can be transferred to your work, causing dark gray or black streaks that cannot be removed. Heavy carbon deposits can also affect the temperature of the tool tip, causing the tip to cool below its normal heat setting. Unevenly burned lines that vary sharply in color or width are most often caused by a dirty tip.

Check your tool tip often and clean it whenever this buildup becomes noticeable. When the tool tip starts to take on a chocolate-brown tone, unplug the tool, and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes. Then, use one of the following three methods to clean your tool tip. Do not attempt to clean hot tips, whether solid brass or wire, because this can damage the metal and the cleaning surface. Once you have cleaned your woodburning tips, get to burning with this trio of bird ornaments!

Honing Strop Using a honing strop and aluminum-oxide honing compound is the second way to clean tool tips, and it works for both one-temperature and variable-temperature tips. Place a small amount of the compound on the strop, and then pull the tool tip across the strop’s surface to clear the tip of carbon. This is my favorite cleaning method because it does the least amount of damage to tool tips while restoring them to the bright finish that creates clean burned strokes.

Use a honing board or leather honing strop with an aluminum-oxide compound to clean variable-temperature wire tips and the solid brass tips of the one-temperature tool.

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The post Keeping It Clean appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

By Don Self

There’s no specific type of cat called the “black panther.” Instead, the name can refer to any single-color (melanistic) big cat. In Asia and Africa, they are leopards, while those in the Americas are jaguars. I have long been fascinated by the jaguar’s strength and beauty, as well as its place in Aztec culture, so I had a classic jungle cat in mind when I carved and painted my basswood jaguar. However, you can carve the cat from walnut or butternut and use either paint or natural finish to create a black panther. Before you start carving your big cat, make sure your tools are sharp by using a rotary strop to easily sharpen your carving tools.

Use the carving as a pin, neckerchief slide, magnet, or box decoration, or increase the size substantially to make a wall hanging.

Carving Tips

• Orient the grain roughly parallel to the line connecting the corner of the eye and the nose.
This provides strength to the delicate areas.

•  Strop the knife just before you begin to carve the nose, eye, and ear. This ensures smooth cuts in these areas, which have difficult grain.

• While it’s possible to carve the entire project with a detail knife, the whisker pits and the outline of the eye highlight (inside the pupil) can be challenging to carve. Use a 1/16″ (2mm) veiner in those areas if needed.

Painting a Jaguar Mix equal parts apricot, golden brown, and white to make gold paint. Dilute the paint 50 percent with  water and paint the gold areas. Mix white paint 1:1 with water and paint the white areas. While the paint is still wet, use a circular motion to blend the two colors where they meet. You may need to dilute the paint further to make the colors easier to blend. Allow the piece to dry thoroughly before painting the rest of the carving. Iris: Mix gold with a touch of nutmeg brown; thin slightly with water Nose: Mix gold with khaki; thin slightly with water. Grade to black at edges. Markings: Black; thin slightly with water Ears: Black; thin heavily with water Rosettes on sides and back of head: nutmeg brown; thin heavily with water

Using a Natural Finish I carved this panther from butternut, applied a walnut stain, and finished it with Danish oil. To make the eye stand out, paint the pupil black and add a white highlight dot.

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