old time
WHITTLING Easy Techniques for Carv Car v ing Classic Cla ssic Projects Projects Keith Randic Ra ndich h
© 1994, 2013 by Keith Randich All rights reserved. Old Time Whittling is a revised edition of the 1994 version originally published by Keith Randich under the title Old Time Whittling in the United States of America. This version published by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., East Petersburg, PA. The projects contained herein herein are copyrighted by the author. author. Readers may make copies of these projects for personal use. The projects themselves, however, however, are not to be duplicated for resale or distribution under any circumstances. Any such copying is a violation of copyright law. ISBN 978-1-56523-774-2 To learn more more about the other great books books from Fox Chapel Publishing, Publishing, or to find a retailer near you, call toll-free 800-457-9112 or visit us at www.FoxChapelPublishing.com. Note to Authors: We are always looking for
talented authors to write new books. Please send a brief letter describing your idea to Acquisition Editor, Editor, 1970 Broad Street, East Petersburg, PA 17520. Printed in China First printing Because working with wood and other materials inherently includes the risk of injury and damage, this book cannot guarantee that creating the projects in this book is safe for everyone. For this reason, this book is sold without warranties or guarantees of any k ind, expressed or implied, and the publisher and the author disclaim any liability for any injuries, losses, or damages caused in any way by the content of this book or the reader’s use of the tools needed to complete the projec ts presented here. The publisher and the author urge all readers to thoroughly review each project and to understand the use of all tools before beginning any project.
Table of Contents Introduction
4
Wood W ood
5
Knives and Keeping Them Sharp
6
Safety
9
An Egg?
The Brogan
10
12
Ball-in-the-Cage
15
The Wooden Chain
17
Four More Whittler’s Tricks Tricks
19
Carving in Shallow Relief
26
The Face
29
Introduction Tere used to be a time when people had the knowledge and skill to take materials they had at hand and create things they needed to survive. One such material was wood, as trees stood in abundance. Although the objects people created were not permanent, the wood was able to be worked by the ew tools they possessed. Once their shelter was complete and the livestock penned, they built articles that added to their comort. As their lives improved and time permitted, they would use their woodworking skills to produce items or ornamentation and entertainment. A chair, a spoon, and a bowl were designed to fill utilitarian purposes, yet each one became an object o decoration in the hands o a whittler during the long, cold winters. oys were created or children, chests or blankets, and boxes or pipes, tobacco, and other items o value. Eventually,, towns appeared and businesses were Eventually able to provide many o the items that people had once been orced to create or themselves. Laws o ashion and social status dictated that homes be equipped with items produced o shiny materials rom araway places. As the necessity to create aded, so did the knowledge and skills that so many once possessed. For many years, only a small number o artisans, and a smaller number o hobbyists, carved urniture or well-to-do individuals and other objects or the secular trade. I find it interesting that the last thirty years have seen a rebirth o handcrafs such as woodworking and woodcarving. In the same period o time that we have seen so much technology put in place to enable us to do less and less work, thousands o olks are going back to activities that our ancestors did out o necessity. It’s as i a large segment o the population gave up their V V remotes, multi-channel cable, and leather recliners and decided that perorming might be a little more interesting than being a ulltime audience. Afer a day on the rock pile, they ound a couple o hours spent in ront o the workbench a much more creative release than taking in the network network’’s new all lineup.
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OLD TIME WHITTLING
Te term “whittling” conjures images o old men making shavings while sitting on a bench in ront o the general store. My definition o whittling (and Webster backs me up on this) is simply any carving done with a knie. Carving implies the use o chisels, gouges, and a mallet, while sculpting is just carving while wearing a beret with a plump nude sprawled out in ront o you. Feel ree to substitute any o the three terms when speaking to your riends and amily.
Te intent o this text is to distribute some o the lost knowledge o whittling back to people who are tiring o playing the spectator role and are looking or an avenue to channel their creativity. Te text is ordered in such a way that skills taught in one project are built upon in the next. Tis book differs rom many other instructional carving books in that I really try to present each step separately. separately. It means we’ll start out slowly, but I guarantee you’ll know which end o the knie to push by the time you’ve you’ ve completed a couple o projects.
Pictured are pine (top left and bottom right), basswood (light wood on left), and tupelo (middle).
Woo W ood d Basswood (linden) is the most popular wood or whittling in this part o the world. It is sof enough to allow working with hand tools, yet its close grain allows it to hold airly good detail in a carving. It is readily available in varying thicknesses at lumberyards and craf stores and remains relatively inexpensive. Whittling draws an image o taking a knie to whatever wood one has at hand, and any sof, straight-grained timber will do nicely. Butternut, chestnut, redwood, yellow poplar, tupelo, cottonwood, cotton wood, some pine, and cedars all carve well. Stay away rom balsa wood—it’s just too sof. Oak and walnut are great carving woods, but you’ll have a tough time carving them without a mallet and chisel. Don’t Don’t be araid to experiment. Tere is a great variety o possible woods; woods; eel ree to try woods not listed in this book. Many local woods are great or carving, but because o their limited range and lack o commercial availability, ofen don’t show up on the list o carving carv ing woods. I’ve received samples o obscure species sent by students and rea ders living in areas that produce trees that are considered exotics in the Northeast part o the country. Because we’re using our bare hands to pull a knie through wood, avoid wood with knots in it or pieces with obvious twists in the grain.
I you are ortunate enough to find a local tree service or your neighbor is cutting down a linden or cedar, rush to the scene with baubles or bartering. Even a healthy pruning o a mature tree can put you in at city in terms o your wood supply supply.. Be sure to split the logs rom the tree to speed the drying process. Store your cache out o the sun but away rom any heat source. Drying a log too quickly will promote checking and cracking. Te rule o thumb or air-drying wood is a year per inch o thickness, although sofer woods will dry sooner. You’ll need to bring the wood inside or a ew months beore actually using it. Watch the end grain careully careully.. I checks appear afer the wood has been inside a couple o days, you probably brought it in too soon. Air-drying lumber is a hit or miss proposition, with most o the misses caused by impatience. Fortunately, the bad stuff can become practice stock or at worst, firewood. I don’t don’t speciy the size o the blocks I’m working with in some o the projects in this text. Tere is a tradeoff between using a big block that is easy to handle but takes longer to carve, and a small block that is difficult to handle yet carves c arves quickly. I’ll try to give a couple o dimensions that will work well. Otherwise, use the wood you have on hand and in the dimensions that eel most comortable to you. OLD TIME WHITTLING
5
Knives and Keeping Them Sharp Te traditional whittler’s whittler’s tool o choice is his trusty tr usty pocketknie. Far be it or me to stomp on tradition this early in the text, but you are going to be hard-pressed to find a pocketknie these days that you can do much more with than put a point on a stick. Our pocketknives have evolved into olding utility knives. I guess the B oy Scouts, hunters, and the Swiss Army just aren’t creating in wood like they used to. I’m suggesting that you acquire a simple carving knie to use with this book. You’ll You’ll want a straight blade with a pointed tip, anywhere rom 1" to 2" (25 to 51mm) in length. Tese knives are available at most woodworking, hobby, art supply, and craf stores, as well as mail-order supply houses. You may find two distinct styles o carving car ving knives, particularly at more well-equipped stores: fixed-blade knives, or knie handles with replaceable blades. Fixed-blade knives are less expensive and will work fine or our projects. Te replaceable blade sets also work well, as the blades come very sharp. I you nick a blade edge, or simply can’t can’t get it as sharp as you’d like, simply pop in another blade.
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OLD TIME WHITTLING
ool buying is a disease, albeit a survivable surv ivable one. I have knives or every task and or each day o the week. Although I’d hate to deprive anyone rom suffering through the sympto symptoms ms o this affliction, I do want to point out that every project in this text can be accomplished with a single knie. But just in case—get well soon. Sharpening rivals tools as the topic in most “my way is better” conversations among woodcarvers. For sharpening supplies, you can pick rom stones, belts, or strops. I you select stones, do you go with oil, ceramic, water, or diamond? Is the stone spinning or lying stationary on a bench? How ast should the belt be moving? What grit o abrasive should you use? How about the strops—mounted strops—mounted on a board or attached to a hook like the barbers used to do? Power strop? What do you put on the leather— aluminum oxide, jeweler’s rouge, WD-40? Sound conusing? Why shouldn’t shouldn’t it be? Afer all, a recent catalog rom a woodworking supply house had more than nine pages dedicated to sharpening supplies. Every carver has his own avorite, and everyone’ss avorite is the best. everyone’
Ball-in-the-Cage
Ball Cage bar
Start rounding the ball on all six sides by making stop cuts ⅛" (3mm) deep, and then making tiny slicing cuts inside the lines to pop out the chips. Te bars o this cage currently have our sides. In order to ree our ball, we need to careully shave away the inside o the bars to make them three-sided. Tis will enable us to reach inside to continue rounding the ball and eventually ree it.
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OLD TIME WHITTLING
Once the ball is ree, you will find yoursel presented with a basic good news/bad news situation. Te good news is the ball is ree and still caged. Te bad news is the ball is not completely round and it’s it’s very difficult to grasp through the bars. I’ve ound that it helps to pin the ball in the corners o the cage to hold it. ake only tiny cuts c uts to complete rounding the ball. Big slashing cuts have a tendency to break through the bars with alarming regularity regularity.. Once the ball is round, you may move on to finishing the cage. I’m not a proponent o sanding any carvings, but we want to smooth the cage while removing the bare minimum o wood. I you do sand, however, keep one thing in mind: Don’t Don’t use your knie on a surace once it has been sanded. Grit rom the paper will be imbedded in the wood and will quickly dull your blade as you cut into it. Tereore, do any major cleanup with your knie first. Place a sheet o fine-grit sandpaper on a flat surace and sand the outside and ends o the cage clean. Lightly touch up the bars, but don’t don’t sand the ball. You’ll You’ll want people to know you carved it. Ball-in-the-cage carvings get handled quite a bit, so we’ll need to put some type o se aler on ours. Dipping the piece in an oil finish or spraying it with a quick-dry acrylic sealer will work great. ry to avoid a heavy-coated or sticky finish. We don’t want to gum up the works now.
The Wooden Chain Another whittler’s whittler’s trick that has been around or a long time is the wooden chain. Wooden Wooden chains have been created that are hundreds o eet long. I have seen telephone poles chain-sawn into chains and tooth picks surgically incised into chains. Start with a block about 1" (25mm) square and 6" to 8" (152 to 203mm) in length. With a pencil, divide the block into 1" (25mm) squares on all our sides. Draw 2" (51mm) links on each side o the block with interlocking links on the top and bottom. Note that the ends only have a hal-link. Next, draw a couple o parallel lines the length o each side, ¼" (6mm) rom the edge.
Slice away the corners o the block, being careul not to carve into the parallel lines. Make a stop cut into each o these lines and slice the wood on the outside o the cut. Continue making the stop cuts until you are ¼" (6mm) deep. At this point the side view o the block should appear appear as a long plus sign (+). (I prepare a couple dozen o these blocks or my classes, and in an effort to save time, the students start with a block in the “+” shape. Rather than carving my fingers to the bone, I set up my table saw to cut a ¼" x ¼" (6mm x 6mm) dado on each corner. I you think I may be bending the unwritten rules o whittling, consider the guy with the telephone pole and chainsaw.) Draw your links back on the block. ake ake the time to draw both the inner and outer loop or each link. Make a shallow stop cut between the first two links. Widen that cut slightly by angling your blade to either side o that first cut. Continue until you have reached the bisecting link. Be careul not to cut through the bisecting link. Make the same stop cut between these links rom the other side o the block. Give your block a quarter-turn and make the same stop cuts between the next two links. Continue on or three or our links. Te hal links at each end are simply carved off the block. Te first ull-length link becomes the end o the chain.
OLD TIME WHITTLING
17
The Wooden Chain
Our next step is to begin to remove a little o the interior o each link. Make stop cuts inside e ach link. Widen these stop cuts by angling the blade to both sides o your first cut. I you are lining up these cuts on both sides correctly, the knie will cut through. From here on, the block becomes much more delicate. Make light cuts with a sharp blade to ensure both chain and fingers remain unsc athed. Once you have carved through the inside o a link you will be able to complete the separation between two links that we started earlier. Continue making tiny stop cuts rom either side until you have cut through.
Notice that your links are still joined at their ends. o be sure that you know what wood goes with which link, take a pencil and draw as much o each link on the block as you can. We need to cut through these ends without damaging the links. o accomplish this mean eat, make sure you have a sharp, pointed blade. Tere just isn’t isn’t enough room
18
OLD TIME WHITTLING
to get a at curved cur ved blade in this tiny space. ake ake tiny cuts rom all angles until you break through. Don’t Don’t make any attempt to shape or clean up the links until they have broken ree rom one another. ry to cut a ew links ree beore moving on to new ones. Clean up the ends o each link. Keep an eye out or the grain direction as you cut. Te wood is very weak at these points and requires extremely delicate cuts. Clean up the ends o the links beore be ore going on to the sides. Because the sides are lined up with the grain, they are much easier to round off. You can continue carving the rest o the chain until the block is completely transormed. I like to leave one or two links on my block untouched to show olks a beore and afer view o the piece. Chains are also likely to be handled, so apply a basic finish that will seal out dust and fingerprints. Once you’ve perected your ball-in-the-cage and your wooden chain, give yoursel a promotion to the next level o whittlerdom. Consider treating yoursel to a new knie, or at least a new thumb guard.
Four More Whittler’s Tricks Now that we’ve we’ve completed a couple o basic whittling tricks, we can make small design changes to create these new items o interest:
• Arrow Through the Heart • Ball-in-a-Ball • Love Spoons Spoons on a Chain • Sliding Hoops
OLD TIME WHITTLING
19
CRAFTS & HOBBIES / Carving Carving $9.99 US
rediscover old-fashioned
CREATIVITY Te erm “whitling” “whitl ing” evokes pleasan images o bygone days, when old-imers relaxed wih knie kn ie and wood in ron o he general sore. You can maser he oldashioned craf o whitling oday, wih his easy-o-learn beginner’s guide. Even i you’ve never carved a piece o wood beore, wi ll show you how o creae iconic Old Time Whitling will whitling whitl ing classics like he wooden chain, ball-in-a-cage, arrow hrough he hear, and more. Woodcarving insrucor insr ucor and auhor auhor Keih Randich R andich akes you sep-bysep hrough 10 projecs, projecs, wih w ih concise insrucions insr ucions and more han 50 phoographs phoographs and diagrams. diag rams.
This introduction to classic old-fashioned whittling includes: •
•
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en projecs wih concise insruc i nsrucions ions Tree-dimensional, in-he-round carving wo-dimensional, shallow relie car ving Wood Woo d selecion, kni knie e sharpening, and saey
Ball-in-a-Ball, page 21
Practice Projects: Wooden Shoes, page 12
Knives, Sharpening, and Safety, page 6
Whittler’s Tricks: Arrow Through the Heart, page 20
Carving in Shallow Relief, page 26
ISBN: 978-1-56523-774-2
50999
9 781565 237742
