essentÊrving±44

E S S E N T I A I. W O O D C A R V I N G T EĆ H X I Q U E S

Fic; 13.13 Aluminium and Steel wire armaturÄ™ for stylized oersion of mother swinging baby.

grain running along rhe arms. The body is thin in che maquecce and is short-grained from the waisc co the breast, buc in che wood could be left thicker. If it showed any sign of breaking I could break it cleanly and dowel ic for scrength. Such joins are virrually invisiblc if done carefully - bur chis is a difficulty best avoided. Ash was chosen because ic was available as well as strong. It is not a wood I recommend for carving as ir is tough when seasoned; it yields to strong blows and tcnds to be stringy, not cutting crisply. This piece was slow grown and therefore comparativelv easy.

Roughing Out - thf. Use of Machinery

The outline was roughed out First with a chain saw (Fig 13.15). This is dangerous to che user and can also cut off too much from the objecc. I followed this with a rotary eutter on an angle grinder. Like the chain saw, this is difficult to concrol and is obviously limited as to what cuts

Fic, 13.14 Clay matjuette showing the modelling rools used.

can be madÄ™. The resulting shape is therefore rough and far too big. This method is probably conducive to morÄ™ sculptural carving than a bandsaw, which tcnds to create profiles at right angles to each other and which is often taken too close to the finished outline.

There can be no reasonable objection to the use of machinery in the roughing out stage provided chat the rcsult is what you intended. Purists who objcct to their use might as well insist on all trees bcing felled and squared with axe and adze.

Always keep the offeuts — you never know what may go wrong (sec Fig 13.15). Shakes may be filled and dcad knots in the middle of the wood and pieces caned away in error be morÄ™ easily replaced with a piece of marching grain if a widc varietv of offeuts is kept.

If you have no machinery rhe same stage musc be reached with axe, saw or gougc, which can be satisÅ‚ying to do but takes longer. You are certainly less likcly to takc too much away.

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