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7 Most Common Questions about Chip Carving

7 Most Common Questions about Chip Carving

1. How Long Did It Take You

My usual answer is, “I don’t really watch the clock. I’ll carve some now and some later. But a piece like this would take me about 5 hours.” 

2. What Happens If You Make A Mistake

This question is asked by chip carvers and non-carvers alike. It’s a valid question.

3. My Wood Is Really Dry And Brittle. What Can I Do?

The easiest way to increase the moisture content in your wood is to get yourself a cooler with a lid.

4. How Do You Get That Kind Of Finish

I show you how below!

5. How Do You Put The Pattern On The Wood?

This question is so common that when I’m a vendor at a Show or instructor of a class, I’m always sure to demonstrate how to use the Pattern Transfer Tool.

6. Yikes, My Wood Is Warped! What Can I Do?

This has happened to me more than once so you’re not alone and not without hope.

 

7. What Kind of Wood Is That? Is It Possible TO Carve Other Woods?

Most of the time I chip carve basswood because…

 

7 Most Common Questions about Chip Carving:

1. How long did it take you?

So I usually clarify by saying, “I’ve been doing this for a long time and it goes faster with practice.”

I’ve thought a lot about this question because I get asked it all the time.

My usual answer is, “I don’t really watch the clock. I’ll carve some now and some later. But a piece like this would take me about 5 hours.” 

When I say it takes me 5 hours for a trivet, the response is usually, “That’s fast!”

But what intrigues me about this question is that quality and craftsmanship are often equated with a high number of hours spent on the piece. I don’t find this true at all! Just because it takes a long time to complete something does not automatically make that piece better than the same piece created in a short time. If one carver is slow and another carver fast, does it really matter how long it took to complete?

In Fine Woodworking Magazine, the Gallery section contains pieces made by readers and many of these items will list how long it took to complete. It’s quite funny when you think about it because maybe the 1000 hour credenza may actually backfire and reflect poorly on the craftsman who posted it because others might look at it and think to themselves, “Dang, I could knock that out in a week!” What do cumulative work hours really have to do with the quality of the finished product anyway?

So…getting off my soapbox… rather than explain the false nature of this question, I’ll just give my usual answer. 😀

2. What happens if you make a mistake? 

This question is asked by chip carvers and non-carvers alike. It’s a valid question.

There are three things you can do if you make a mistake. 

(Apart from screaming, cursing, stomping, pouting, crying and never carving again.)

  1. If you have the piece of wood that either chipped out accidentally or was carved away when it wasn’t supposed to be removed, you can carefully glue it back in place. I like to use white glue and a pin (or the point of my knife if a pin can’t be found). Use just a tiny amount of glue. Position it as accurately as possible. Let it dry overnight and then come back to it the next day. I prefer white glue over super glue because it sets up slowly making it easier to move and reposition into the exact spot. 
  2. Let’s say you blew the piece away or it fell into the pile of chips on the floor. There’s no way you can find it. It’s possible, though not easy, to make a piece for the repair. This is quite challenging because this piece needs to fit tightly on all surfaces where the mistake happened. Also, the grain needs to line up and the color of wood match as well. In all my years of chip carving I can only think of doing this a couple of times. 

Finally, if you make a mistake you can change the pattern. If you removed a chip that wasn’t supposed to be removed, remove all of those same chips throughout the entire pattern. When you’re done, you’ll be the only one who will know you made the change, unless you told your spouse or the guys at the club 🙂 

3. My wood is really dry and brittleWhat can I do?

The easiest way to increase the moisture content in your wood is to get yourself a cooler with a lid.

Place an open pot of boiling water and your wood on edge inside the cooler. Put the lid on the cooler and let it sit overnight. In the morning the moisture content in the wood will have increased quite a bit and it will carve nicely.

It’s possible to increase the moisture as you carve by spot spraying the wood with a 50/50 mixture of water and rubbing alcohol. This won’t penetrate the wood as much as the previous cooler method but it will help relieve some of the dryness.

For information on other ways to solve this problem, check out this Community Post inside the Wood Preparation Forum.

4. How do you get that kind of finish?

7 MOST COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT CHIP CARVING

Question # How Do You Get That Kind Of Finish

The finish shown on this plate always gets a lot of attention and interest. It looks more complicated than it really is.

Step 1: Remove all leftover pattern lines (Tombow Sand Eraser)
Step 2: Very lightly take a few strokes across the surface with 220 grit or finer abrasive.
Step 3: Vacuum off all the dust
Step 4: Spray one coat of clear finish (Satin Lacquer or Matte Acrylic) on the entire carving. Let dry for 45 – 60 minutes
Step 5: Repeat Step 4 and 5 two more times
Step 6: Brush an even coat of gel stain (color of your choice) into the recessed areas of your carving and wipe off any gel stain that gets on the surface using a cotton cloth wrapped tightly around your finger. Let dry overnight.
Step 7: Apply more gel stain as needed to any areas that need more color. Let dry overnight.
Step 8: Repeat Step 4 to complete the process.

5. How do you put the pattern on the wood?

This question is so common that when I’m a vendor at a Show or instructor of a class, I’m always sure to demonstrate how to use the Pattern Transfer Tool.

Before I decided to make the PTT my go-to recommended pattern application method, I did my research and experimentation. The other methods I tried turned out to be either too expensive or were too difficult to get good results. Since settling on the PTT, I’ve never looked back. This video shows you how quick, easy, and accurate the PTT does this job.

6.Yikes! My carving warped! What can I do?

This has happened to me more than once so you’re not alone and not without hope. If the wood you carved is fairly thin and a penetrating finish is applied, there’s a very good chance the piece will cup (warp). Here’s why this happens and how to attempt a fix.

Image the tiny cells that make up the wood as little balloons. When a penetrating finish is applied (shellac, sanding sealer, any penetrating oil finish) these little balloons get filled up with the finish. The “balloons” on one side of the board will fill up more than the other side and cause the full side to expand more than the unfull side, causing the board to cup.

Also, when one side of the board is carved, the cell structure of that surface has been changed quite a bit. End grain is exposed inside the chips. The finish will be absorbed differently than the uncarved surface. All this will lead to the cells expanding at different rates that can lead to warping. Got it? 😕

 

 

 

 

7. What kind of wood is that? Can you chip carve other woods?

Most of the time I chip carve basswood because it is a tight grained, closed pore and relatively soft wood. The carved surfaces are glassy smooth and create a nice shadow. 

When selecting basswood it should always be from northern grown trees. Northern basswood grows slower resulting in a much tighter grain than southern grown trees. 

Basswood is also called Linden or Lime wood. 

Other woods can also be chip carved. Butternut chip carves nicely but it is more expensive, hard to find and has open pores with more pronounced grain. White pine, aspen and poplar can be chip carved too. Check the Janka scale for various woods to determine how hard they are compared to basswood that has a Janka rating of 410 lbf. The higher the Janka number, the harder the wood. 

Harder woods with higher Janka ratings can be chip carved, but not with a hand-held knife. Chisels and a mallet are needed to make the cuts needed to remove chips.