205 articles in the archive · page 10 of 18
In depthAugust 29, 2024
Should wood be wet before carving?
Wet wood bends away from the bevel instead of shearing, so the surface comes up woolly and the piece moves as it dries. Here is how to read the board before you commit.
In depthAugust 29, 2024
Should I oil Wood before Carving?
Should you oil wood before carving? No. See what oil does to the fibers, and when a master carver brushes it on. Shall we carve?
In depthAugust 29, 2024
What is the meaning of wood carving?
Wood carving is subtraction, and after forty years I would say it is the ability to see in three dimensions. Here is the craft split into its three real parts, in the order they belong.
WOOD for Wood CarvingAugust 29, 2024
Is Black Locust Good for Carving?
In depthAugust 29, 2024
What Janka hardness of wood means for a hand carver
An 11.28 mm steel ball, driven to half its own depth, leaves a dent of exactly one square centimeter. The load it took is the Janka number. Here is how that test is run, why two books print two figures for one species, and the hardness band where a gouge stops slicing.
In depthAugust 28, 2024
What does rot resistant wood mean?
I carve indoors, so the species list here comes from the government wood laboratory and I name it every time. What I can teach you is how to read decay in a board before you trust it with a hundred hours.
Everything above is free and stays free. The courses are where I put your hands on the gouge and watch what they do.
See what is inside →
In depthAugust 28, 2024
What does wood shrinkage mean?
Every other number on a wood chart decides what happens while you carve. This one decides what happens for the next hundred years, and I have a gouge whose ring went loose on its own to prove it.
In depthAugust 28, 2024
What does the crushing strength of wood mean?
I lost petal rims to this for years and blamed the wood. Here are the real crushing numbers, and the bench test that finally stopped it.
In depthAugust 28, 2024
What does the elastic modulus of wood mean?
Stiffness decides whether a thin relief panel, an openwork ground or an acanthus tendril holds or snaps. Here are the real numbers, and the bench test that reads your own board.
In depthAugust 28, 2024
What does the modulus of rupture of wood mean?
A leaf tip lets go and everybody blames the wood. Here are the real bending numbers, and the grain slope that decides the outcome long before the species does.
WOOD for Wood CarvingAugust 28, 2024
Is Beefwood Good for Carving?
In depthAugust 28, 2024
What does wood density mean?
Light board, heavy board, and one number behind both. Here is what density really measures, and why the same basswood shows up as 0.32 in one book and 0.42 in another.