5 Backcutting

'Backcutting' (or 'backing off') is not the same as 'undercutting', though they represent a similar idea.

Undercutting, which we have done already on the front of the roll, is removing wood from the front of a carving to create shadows.

Backcutting is literally when you can go round the back of the carving and 'back off' an edge. It's very much what you do with a pierced carving.

The difference isn't just semantic; the tools and skills are often very different and backcutting is usually far easier to do. In this lesson you'll see me using a 'patternmaker's vice' to hold the work, an alternative to the old, wooden 'woodcarvers chops'. Both vices sit on top of the bench and hold the work higher than the normal bench vice. An online search for both will bring up distributors.