Carving Chisels...

[Zed]

Hi All,

You may notice from a previous thread that I have been doing a turning class at the local High school which has and continues to be lotsa fun, in my last submission on this topic I wrote :

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Fargin' 'ell!!! in class last night right?... found a picture on the web of some wood carving mallets all nice and round, clean and sexy looking - dead easy to turn up - so I gets me peice of iron bark - lovely bit of stock - spend a whole hour shaping it up nice and neat and when I get to the sanding stage I notice theres some score marks in the handle section, so I sez to meself i'll just clean that up with the flat angle chisel to get rid of the cut and guess what ?? I farged it up didnt I ? just kept slipping and sliding all over the peice till there wasn't enough thickness in the handle to support the hammer end!!! I had it all nicely dimensioned too ! very disappointed in myself!... when I told SWMBO that I had reduced a peice of 100x100mm iron bark to so much toothpicks she just her self laughing...
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Anyway - that was last week - I have now completed Mark II of the said carving chisel from a new piece of stock and here is the result :

Sorry about the quality of the image but I dont have a digi camera and had to borrow a mates phone camera hence the quality.

I though the carving mallet would be good practice as its got straight, convex and concave sections also giving lotsa practice on various techniques. Its only old iron bark 100x100mm stock that I bought at the local dump for $5 for 1.8 m recycled. Must say theres a lot of hard work in turning a dry hardwood.
Next week I imagine I will have finished my first bowl made from silky oak (?) whichI will post also assuming I dont farg it up too!

[Zed]

heres another image that shows a different viewpoint of the object

again, sorry about image quality.

[river rat]

Zed,
Well I made the trip to the wood store last friday and bought two pieces of eastern red ceder 6 inch square one 1 foot long and 2 feet long and 1 piece of curly maple 6 inches sqare and 2 feet long. already turned the small ceder into an urn and plan on turning the maple into a match set of urns. the long ceder is going to be a match set of vases. I saw some lace wood and leapord wood at the shop which I think is silky oak so I am interested in how your bowl turns out. let me know.

River Rat

[Zed]

Hi,

I buggered the silky oak (C'mon... first bowl!!!) same scenario as with the Mk I version of the mallet... went to clean up a groove and farged it - Again!!!!

I've now got a piece of camphor laurel which im taking infinatley more care with!

at least im learning as im turning - I think/hope!

will post the camphor laurel after its finished assuming I dont ruin it too!

[Neil]

Stupid question Zed......... but are they teaching you anything at this course or just letting you go for your life without giving you any of the skills?

Have you been shown how to use a skew chisel to,: skim, make V cuts, roll a bead, etc? Have you been shown the same with a spindle gouge as well as cutting coves and making fillets, etc?

Are you being taught to rub the bevel as you cut or just shown how to use all the tools as scrapers?

Please don't be offended I am not knocking your work, just trying to assertain if the course is doing what it should. The mallet looks fine all bar the torn end grain that didn't quite sand out on the curve between the head and the handle.

Watch those last couple of cuts, they are usually the ones that stuff a job up. It will get better with practice, the digins will become fewer, the turning will become faster and the fun will continue to grow.

Cheers - Neil :)

[Zed]

they ares showing us how to use a skew and make v's, rub the bevel etc.... unfortunately my skill levels are very ordinary at the moment ? I must admit I did start scraping the last curve of the mallet as I was too scared of another dig in so late in the process - didnt want to lose the work invested already! cheating I know !!!

I also have been reading in various places (including here) about technique etc - also my sharpening is geting better - so at least my dig ins are nice clean bights rather than huge ragged gashes now!

Im not sure of where you make mention of the torn end grain you are refering to a fault inthe wood itself - it traverses the whole length of timber...

[jhunt_2000]

Very nice work on mk 2 Zed. How long did it take you to turn up that one? Is the fault a grub hole and if so has it affected the strength at all? I'm a beginner and the first thing I turned in twenty years, ie since high school when we did about four weeks of wood turning, was also a mallet. Like you I love the lines, and also like you I miffed the first one. The piece of Jarrah (I think?) was too short so the handle was two inches long, tehehe. Thought about it for a while, then drilled the handle, held the mallet from the other end with a screw and attached an extension in a contrasting colour. Used a plug of the same wood to fill the screw hole and ended up happy. Here are some pics. Also a nice shot of my apprentice trying it out. To any older folk out there thanx for passing on what you know, I'm learning to turn on my fiancee's grandfather's lathe and with his tutilage (I think I spelt that right?). I have to say, not being used to octogenarians I'm greatful for the experiences. Hope this post isnt too long.

[jhunt_2000]

Er, second pic.

[jhunt_2000]

And so on.

[Zed]

I turned up the one in the photo in about 45 minutes - lot of roughing work from square...

I have since given it to a mate from Western Oz, and made a new one for myself slightly smaller in diameter. the new one I timed to take 32 minutes .... I suppose getting better at this caper. I've got one more blank that Im going to make for a mate for hiss wedding - Im gunna give it to his wife at the wedding party!!! (Yuk Yuk!!)

and yes it is a grub hole that went through the entire length of timber and no it doesnt affect the strength at all - I gave it a good bashing on the weekend as well as throwing it at the Indian Miner birds in the back yard and just a few marks where the chisel impacted the mallet (as you would expect) theres a few splits in the timber also as it used to be a veranda post or something (I mised the birds by the way!)