Woodcarving started with shards of flint and fallen branches and has grown from there and maybe reached it’s peak with Grinling Gibbons in the 18th century. Woodcarving requires a pretty minimal setup - a bench, good light, carving tools, mallet and sharpening stones. Woodcarving scales well to a small space and low budget.
This course will kick start your woodcarving - at the end of the course you’ll have a deep enough understanding to continue your exploration of woodcarving.
In this course Dan starts you off on the traditional approach to learning wood carving:
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Safety in carving shop
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Selection of essential tools
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Selection of woods for carving
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Selecting the chisels for the form
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Carving techniques with gouges, chisels and knives
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Clamping and fastening techniques
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Sharpening
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Finishing your carved pieces
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Creating designs and transferring them to the carving blank
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Traditional relief carving (creating raised panels)
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Letter carving
Dan will take you through a series of exercises and practice pieces ending up with you making a small raised panel - probably of a flower or a fish. Carving brings you very closely in contact with the grain of the wood - you’ll learn at a very visceral level how you need to adapt the cut direction to the grain. Maintaining the sharpness of your carving tools is critical to the ease of carving and the cleanness of the final piece (no sanding allowed!).
Carving is like dancing with a tool - you’ll learn how to use your whole body to control the carving tool and the grace of the curve. Carving is not about arm and wrist strength!
Carving is not wholly about artistry - you do not need to be an artist (it helps) to create carvings. Dan will teach straight forward techniques to transfer an existing drawing to the board. Dan shows you how to carve the shape, hog out material to create the relief and to add the final details.
Tools:
For this class you will need to buy some carving tools. The total cost is around $150.
We recommend the Pfeil tools as they come very well pre-sharpened and are ready to use. It is important that the tools you bring are sharp - if they are blunt you’ll lose too much time at the beginning of the class. By sharp we mean really sharp - you should be able to shave (carefully) with your carving tools.
You can obtain the Pfeil Swiss-made Carving Tools from Woodcraft (the Serial Number are from the Woodcraft catalog - on-line or print). If the tool is not available buy the next larger tool (larger width).
You need to bring:
#3 Sweep 12 mm #05C07
#5 Sweep 12mm #05D05
#7 Sweep 12mm #05E42
#9 Sweep 7mm #05F03
60o "V" parting tool 8mm #05T85
Optional:
#5 8mm Fishtail Gouge #05M07
#11 3mm Veiner #05I07
#1 14mm Straight Edge Chisel - Double Bevel #05E19
Knife #05Z111 and/or #05Z94
Carver's mallet - we have a number of mallet available and suggest you try one before purchasing one for yourself.
Materials:
We’ll be using basswood for the carving blanks during class. We’ll provide the blanks for the class but Basswood is readily available at higher end lumber yards or woodworking stores.
Please note:
As you’ll be dealing with sharp tools we ask you to wear “real shoes” during this class - not sandals where your foot is vulnerable to a dropped chisel.
Class size: 8 (Minimum enrollment 4 by September 1st)
Materials Cost: $35
Cost: $650
