In his book “Das Kerbschnitzen” (1959) Christian Rubi recommends on page 45 to start the cuts from the center outwards—but just for a bit; not the whole line. (See black & white top left figure in my picture.) Personally, after a little bit more than two years in chip carving I’m not skilled enough to finish partial or subcuts properly in more than one step/cut. I always have to cut in one move because otherwise I tend to change the blades angle. And this kind of flaw is very visible along a cut.
My workaround is, not to cut all the way in the center. Because if you draw many lines thru a centerpoint, the lines build up for a “stain” too. Hence I guess it’s more appropriate to leave an evenly shaped but uncut part of wood in the center than broken out parts of cuts. I usually start to cut with the right sided line right in the center carefully and not deeper than required, then I cut the following short outer line. The third cut goes back in the center very, very carefully, especially towards the end of the cut. There it’s crucial not to cut too deep. I always try to imagine where the tip of the blade is in the wood. Occasionally I also draw guide lines for this matter, to help me find out, where the blade’s tip should be (see dotted lines on the board right hand side of the picture).
But I also guess that this problem depends on the type of wood and the quality of the boards you use.
I hope you are able to understand what I wish to describe despite writing very verbosly.
Take care everybody.
