A Manual of Wood Carving. John J. Holtzapffel
Two or more of these will hold the work perfectly fast.
VI. The simplest method of all is to leave about an inch at either end of the panel and pass screws through these extra portions into the table. When the work is carved these ends may be sawn off.
Fig. 14. Scratch.
The Scratch, Fig. 14. This is a very convenient and ingenious tool. “It is used,” says J. S. Gibson (“The Wood-Carver,” Edinburgh, 1889), “for running small mouldings and hollows. Where the lines are long and straight it makes finer work than is possible by means of gouges. The cutters are made from pieces of steel barely 1–16th of an inch thick. Broken pieces of saws are generally used for cutters. They must be tightly fixed in the stock. It is worked backwards and forwards gently. When the cutters are filed to the required shape, they have to be finished with a slip stone to take out the file marks. They are sharpened straight across the edges.”
Fig. 15. Router.
The Router, Fig. 15. This is a small copy of the joiner’s plane of the same name. It consists of a block of wood with a perfectly flat sole; a hole through it at an angle carries the cutter and the wedge by which it is fixed. It is employed for flattening the groundwork after that has been partially excavated with the chisels. The sole of the router rests upon any margins left of the original surface, and being worked about over the ground, the fixed projection of the cutter rapidly reduces the latter to one true level. These routers are made from about nine inches long in the sole to about three inches, the smallest, which little tools have cutters about 1–8th of an inch wide.
Fig. 16. Fret Bow Saw.
Saws. These are of various kinds; perhaps the most useful is the Fret Bow Saw, Fig. 16. This consists of a light thin steel frame with screw jaws, at the open end in which the thin saw-blades are clamped. The handle is also formed as a screw, by which its jaw can be advanced about an inch towards its fellow. To place the saw in position for work, the end of the handle is screwed round until its jaw has advanced about an inch, the saw is then fixed in the opposite jaw by its thumb-screw, then in the handle jaw in the same way, after which the handle is turned until its jaw has travelled back again the distance it had previously advanced, thus straining the saw by the tension of the steel spring saw-frame. This saw is very useful for removing superfluous pieces from the outline, both in flat works and when carving in the round, as will be explained; its primary purpose is for cutting out pierced and buhl and fretwork, but for such work, as the apertures cut do not always cut out to the edges, a drill is required to pierce holes to thread the saw through the work before it is placed in the second jaw to strain it. Fig. 16 is required for pierced work laid down on a ground and then carved, a style of carving which will be described. The ordinary joiners “dovetail” or “tenon” saws, their blades with stiff backs, are required, and are almost indispensable for cutting off portions of the work and trimming it to shape; these saws are too well known to require description.
Fig. 17. Knuckle-bend.
In addition to the tools already described, the pupil will need for more and varied work the following:—I. The Spade Chisel, and Spade Gouge. These are very light, and are used for finishing by hand, as, for instance, in cutting around grapes or plums or in fine work. II. Knuckle-bends, Fig. 17. These are gouges scooped or bent in a curve like a knuckle. III. The Macaroni Tool, Fig. 18. This is like the three sides of a square. It is for removing wood on each side of a vein or leaf, or similar delicate work. It is not very commonly used. IV. The Parting Tool or V, straight or curved. This is a useful tool for outlining a pattern or veining leaves. Beginners find it, like the Macaroni, rather difficult to sharpen, or to keep an edge on it. It must not be used recklessly for carving, as it is apt to break unless handled with care. It should be kept with a cork on the end.
Fig. 18.
Macaroni
Tools.
It is a question among experts as to whether the tools for beginners should have long or short handles, which is as sensible as if they should debate whether the pupils should have large or small hands. General Seaton, who is in other matters a good authority, declares that “small, short, neatly-turned boxwood handles must be avoided; they are nearly useless. Get good-sized beech or ash handles quite five inches long, and if the steel is four or four and a half inches long you will have a really serviceable tool.” Common sense teaches that between a child or a young lady who has a palm “the size of a cardinal’s seal” (to borrow a simile from Benvenuto Cellini), and a workman who would burst a number ten glove, there must be very great differences in the size of handles, and it is certain that for young beginners short ones are to be advised. If they are not to be obtained ready made, then take an ordinary long handle, saw it off to the requisite length, say from three to three and a half inches, round the sharp edge of the wood, firstly with a knife or chisel, then with a rasp, and finish it off with glass-paper. See that the tools when set into the handles are well ringed and firm. In most shops it is usual to sharpen them if it be required. After becoming accustomed to such handles the pupil may, as he progresses, familiarize himself with those which are in general use.
There is really only one trouble in wood-carving. This is the sharpening the tools, and keeping them in good condition. For this the grindstone and oilstone are indispensable, and the beginner must take pains to learn to sharpen his tools well and readily.
Sharpening. Tools which are as yet unground, or which have had the edge broken, may, with patience and care, be sharpened on a harsh flat stone, but round grindstones which revolve with a handle are not dear; you can, however, always get your tools ground by any carpenter. Every carver should therefore, if possible, own one of these grindstones. It will serve as well for a large class as for an individual. The next indispensable is the oilstone. This is to be found of different kinds; the ordinary Turkey stone, set in a block of wood, will answer for firmers, skews, and flat gouges, for finer tools the best Arkansas stones may be employed. Before using one, let fall on it a few drops of oil, which is to be kept in a small can with a narrow spout, made expressly for such dropping. Have a coarse rag, and when you have done with the stone, always wipe it clean of the oil. Take great care not to wear a hollow in the middle of the stone. It is by far the best plan to get some wood-carver or carpenter to show you how to sharpen the tools. There are very few places where there is not somebody who can teach this art. It is usual to have a box-cover to the oilstone, which should always be over it when not in use, to prevent dust from settling on the surface. A very little dust indeed combined with the oil is a great hindrance to sharpening.
Fig. 19. Slip Holder.
Slips. These are pieces of Arkansas, Turkey, and other stones, made of a variety of shapes, to fit the inside of such tools as cannot be sharpened on a flat surface, like that of oil-stone. They require great care in handling lest the fingers be cut. To avoid this, take a piece of wood,