Been hacking at it for years and...

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 14th September 2008, 01:34 AM

I'm no carver, but I do fiddle with the occasional piece when I've some free time.

One piece I've been working on for nearly 25 years is an owl sculpted/carved from a block of 100yo fiddle-backed Tas. Blackwood. This is a very special piece of wood, having been handed down 2 generations to get to me and to call it fiddle-backed is like calling Mt. Everest a hill.

So why is it taking me so long? Well, apart from not wanting to screw it up, this piece is hard. Hard enough to take the edge off a chisel within a couple of strokes, hard enough to melt a burr in a Dremel. And with the extreme fiddle-back it's almost impossible to not have the tool deflect along the grain.

Thus far it's all been rasp and file and a very slow job at that: a job that keeps getting put back into the "too hard basket" but that I can't prevent myself from coming back to every so often. (It's the tooth cavity of my shed.

)

So now I'm wondering... what if I tried charring areas with, say, a pyrography tool and then scraped the char away?

I'll give it a go, but I was wondering whether anyone else has tried this or if someone can see potential pitfalls that I'm missing?

**schaf** · 14th September 2008, 06:41 AM

Skew, I would try a rubber backed , sanding disc on the angle grinder. The angle grinder does not worry about what type of grain that it is working on.

Terry

**underfoot** · 14th September 2008, 07:09 AM

Skew, never heard of the char and scrape method before,
I'd be experimenting on a bit scrap before I set the family heirloom ablaze,
I'll go with schaf on the abrasive on the angle grinder (36 grit if it's a single speed)
it's dusty and it'll still burn a bit on the end grain but it'll disregard all that pesky fiddle,
If you really want to hook in, try one of the tungsten tipped discs on a grinder, (arbortech or rotary chisel etc)
BTW where's the pics????

**Pat** · 14th September 2008, 08:26 AM

**Frank&Earnest** · 14th September 2008, 11:47 AM

Skew, after playing around for a while with soft wood my dad refused to carve anything but red ironbark. And to call that hard is like calling Mt. Everest a hill.

From what I could see, the answer is shorter bevel and bang hard and slow, with a lot of patience and sanding. The blades do not need to be razor sharp. FWIW.

The pic shows an example, the wax has worn off and would need refreshing.

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 14th September 2008, 07:10 PM

Thanks fellas. Another excuse to buy a new tool.

No pix, due to our recent move and lack of a shed; I know where it is but will need to spend quite some time to dig it out. Although I've obviously been thinking of doing just that.

Mebbe when I make my next attempt, provided I don't embarrass myself too badly.

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