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There is more than one way to run the V tool when you're lining in. We don't have a chisel to define the stright edges of the frame, but we can use the create vertical walls with a bit of deft handling.
All carving tools can be used in a variety of ways, there's never just one thing you can do with them.
| 31 July 2023 03:57
Simon - The angle that manufacturers put on their skew chisels varies considerably, even from skew to to skew, so I'm afraid giving you a make - and I have all sorts - isn't much of a help.
I think the best way to think about the skew is from the carving backwards: What do you want to do? What angle - what 'point' do you need? - and then shape your skew to that.
Almost always I've found the angle isn't acute enough, which has meant a regrind - but you only have to do this once. Consider it commissioning the tool. You'll end up with exactly what you need.
We have a video > sharpening > modifying skew chisels, which should help. It's not that difficult. The most important thing is to keep the very tip from going blue, which softens the temper. So, light tough, keep dipping in cold water.
| 30 July 2023 18:34
Hi Chris I need a good skew chisel and I notice the one you use has a much sharper angle on it than the Ashley Iiles versions I have seen. Can I ask what make yours is please? Cheers
| 29 November 2018 08:00
Thanks Chris
| 28 November 2018 10:48
Glenn - You can indeed use a veiner and some carvers prefer it. I tend to the V tool because it's bigger, I like the type of sharp root it leaves and you can tilt it.
There really aren't rules here and the best advice I can give you is: if you have this sort of question or idea - and it's very good question - just give it a go in a piece of scrap wood and see what happens, or whether you've found an advantage etc. The worst that can happen is you've learned something! The best is that you've discovered something to go into your own repertoire of techniques.
| 26 November 2018 23:57
Hi Chris , I know this might be a strange question but could you use a veiner for the lining in instead of the V tool , The reason I asked is in your book " Woodcarving Course " you were using a #11 Veiner for the Cavo Relievo exercise
Kind Regards
Glenn
| 07 February 2018 09:58
Thanks Chris- I think I shall attempt to sharpen my v tool to make certain I have two good faces. Brian
| 06 February 2018 20:31
Brian - You seem to be putting on the same logic hat that I am now wearing... There are only a few things it could be!
When you cut in the ' opposite direction', in other words WITH the grain, the side of the V tool that is a sharp chisel will produce a clean cut. If you can cut cleanly with the grain with one side of the V but not the other, is there is any white line visible on the edge? - dullness, which will need sharpening. That would be my first bet.
It might be the wood having contrary grain, but you should be able to test that by going back or forth on that bit of the groove. Are you definitely going WITH the grain at this point? - rather like sharpening a pencil.
See this as a good exercise in learning about grain and sharpness. You are learning a lot!
| 03 February 2018 08:53
I have followed your instructions for lining out but on one of the leaves I found that the timber was’ripping’. I turned the V tool so that I was cutting in the opposite direction but that did not seem to remedy the problem. Is this just a difficult structure in the timber or a poorly sharpened chisel Chris? I think I keep the tool sharp but I am trying to understand what is happening. Brian
| 09 March 2017 08:48
Peter - That's exactly right: a light cut first if you are unsure, then your main cut, which you don't have to do in one stroke, though that's the idea. You can approach the depth you want incrementally.
It doesn't take long to get the hang of reading grain.
A good idea is to get a bit of clean, flat scrap wood, even something like pine that doesn't carve well, and just play. Try writing in Pitman shorthand for example in different directions to different depths and look carefully at how the wood is tearing.
Think about how we sharpen a pencil, 'downhill' ...
| 08 March 2017 16:55
So in my case I would probably need to start with a lighter cut to determine the way the grain is going. I'm not that keen on reading the grain just yet.
Thanks once again.
| 08 March 2017 08:52
Peter - It's all to do with the grain direction and how this relates to the way the 2 chisels of the V tool cut.
When the V tool is cutting at an angle to the wood fibres, one side of the V cut will be with the grain and cuts the fibres cleanly; the other side will be against the grain and will tend to tear the fibres - not always; it depends on the integrity of the wood and how deep the groove.
I try to put the 'good' side of the outlining V cut to the subject, so any tearing of fibres goes to the waste wood. I think (I hope!) this is what I'm doing in the other video, if you look at the grain direction.
Well done for getting a grip of the sharpening. In many ways it's easier than carving itself because sharpening is a circumscribed skill: once you've got it, you've got it; whereas carving is an endless journey...
| 07 March 2017 23:07
This is going to be confusing to both of us I think but here is my problem. In a previous video you did just a flower no stem. You outlined the top right in a clockwise manner the top left counter clockwise, the bottom right ccw the bottom left cw. in this video you do the leaves the same but the flower itself you do the bottom half the same and than the top the reverse. Am I missing something?
By the way, I've been practicing like a mad dog and even have done quite a bit of sharpening, about 6 gouges, which believe it or not I actually enjoy and think I've done a pretty good job. I was a machinist for a long time back in the day before carbide and sharpened many tools on a pedestal grinder. It was actually fun to grind these gouges.
Peter
