Thread: Arbortech power chisel

Try cutting half way in from one direction, then for the other half of the cut come in from180 degrees the other way and meet in the middle?.
There is a carving section on this forum.

When using hand or power carving tools, indeed any wood cutting tool, one has to work with the grain to minimize tear out.

I presume when you say "when I pull the chisel back up" you mean completing the second half of the cut working from its deepest point back "uphill" into the grain to the surface of the board. The first half of the cut is "downhill" which is good practice. Cutting grain "uphill" in almost all wood is not so good as you have found out.

The much simplified description in the link may assist you to understand "working with the grain." Note there are always exceptions, and some woods are just plain cantankerous.

Wood Grain - Canadian Woodworking Magazine

Always cut down into the grain. You learn quickly in bad woods like western red cedar and any of the pines & spruces.
That means you must work from both ends or all around from the circumference as you would carve a bowl.

I would always begin with some sort of a "stop cut" in the middle and then work towards that from all directions.

The contradiction is to watch a First Nations carver, here in the Pacific Northwest, when they "texture" a surface.
Entirely row after row of shallow divots all the same and no tear out. Remarkable striking accuracy with an adze.