An Explanation from an Old Wood Carver

My favorite wood for carving? Pear.

As far as I’m concerned, it is the best.

Like all the other fruit wood it is hard,

but more than that, it wants to grip the gouge

which helps me carve the lines I want to carve.

Now maple is about as hard as pear.

And it too can be carved against the grain

and won’t tear out like many other woods.

I’ve only carved a couple blocks with it, but

the wood is slippery. It’s harder to

control the gouge and keep it in the line.

Mahogany is a hard wood, but too soft

to let me get the detail that I want

my prints to have. And walnut’s beautiful,

but unlike pear it has an open grain

and if I carved a walnut block those holes

would show up ruining my finished prints.

So pear, like partridge in a pear tree pear,

is what I use for making wood bock prints.

Deep Sea Coral

Imagine diving in the ocean off the California coast and discovering a new coral glowing in the Stygian depth?  This print is 2 3/4″ x 4 3/4″.  It was pulled from one of my homemade blocks of castello boxwood.

Sunflower/Moonflower

One of the problems with not labeling everything is that I soon forget what it is I have.  This sunflower was engraved on wood I bought in 2009.  I carefully labeled when I purchased the wood, but I did not identify what wood I had bought.  I think it is either pear or castello boxwood, but whatever it is it carves beautifully!  The print is approximately 3″ x 6″.

Sunflower/Moonflower

Night Blooming Day Lily

This is a one-day wonder.  I started drawing on the block of castello boxwood around noon and finished the engraving by five o’clock.  The print is 2 3/4″ x 4 3/4″.

Night Blooming Day Lily

Dahlia in Black and White

Dahlia in Black and White

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 3/4″ x 4 3/4″ print pulled from a castello boxwood block.

It’s a good thing I like castello boxwood since I just bought a 3″ x 8″ x 5′ plank that I plan on cutting up into one inch slices in four or five years after it has had a chance to sweat out its extra moisture and become stable enough to use without cracking.  This also means I plan on being around and still carving in four or five or six or ten years.

Apple blossom time

This is a wood engraving pulled from a block carved from castello boxwood.  The block is one that I cut from a plank I have had aging for the last four years.  And I now I just purchased a new 5′ x 2.5″ x 8″ plank.  As a result, when my old boxwood is used up in four or five or six years, this one will be sufficiently dry and ready to cut into one inch slabs for engraving.

This print is 2 7/8″ square.  As you can see, I still have some clean-up to do on the white areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hisbiscus leaves on silver maple

In my ongoing quest to carve a wide range of woods, I purchased some 1/8″ silver maple.  Although the carving went well, and I will use it again, it will not replace either pear or black cherry as a preferred carving wood.  Silver maple seemed to have about the same hardness as black cherry, and it does hold a line well, but it didn’t seem to be any easier to carve than the black cherry I have been using.  My perception is that the wood is brittler, but as of now I have only used silver maple to carve this one piece.  There is a wide range of colors to the wood, and I wonder if there is an equal variation in how hard the wood is and what the carving characteristics are.  Does anyone know if the color reflects the hardness and carving characteristics?

The Gardener Manqué

Italian stone pine cone wood block

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gardener Manqué

 

The pines were planted plenty far apart.

A fool could tell they’d never fill the space,

But dreaming’s cheaper than a three-inch tree.

They would eventually, I was sure,

Outgrow the gallon pots I had them in;

And fill the space; survive the deer and out

Compete the weeds, the gophers eating up

Their roots, ground squirrels, skunks, and especially

An owner who’d forget to water them,

And who’d forget where they were planted when,

On rare occasions, he would mow the weeds

In that forgotten corner of the yard.

And still they suffer from that mindless fool.

In only thirty years, the trees

Are fully grown and overwhelm the space

They were allotted. How do you decide

Which tree to cut when you, for thirty years,

Have watched them grow from three-inch potted plants?

 

Listen to the Mockingbird

Cherry wood block for “Listen to the Mockingbird”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was an experiment to see how my very cheap Woodpecker brand, Chinese gouges would hold up when carving a 5 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ black cherry block.  And while I did have to hone the 1/8″ U gouge once, the small V tool that I used for all the detail in the block was still sharp enough to carve easily when all the line work was completed.  And while I am not a fan of the pencil shape of the handles to this set of tools, the tools did get the job done.

In Praise of Good and Useful Tools

While I do believe there is a place for cheap and crappy tools, these tools can be so frustrating to use (or try to use).  But is buying Pfeil gouges the only alternative? It’s not that I don’t like Pfeil.  They are my favorite wood carving tools, and I have twenty-five or thirty of them.  If I could afford to, I would buy every one they make.  But I can’t afford to buy them all, so I’ve had to look for alternatives.

On eBay today there are 1,711 tools listed for sale under the category of “woodcarving tools” and over 3,000,000 listing for “wood carving tools” on Google.  While it’s easy to find good tools—just go to www.woodcraft.com and get some Pfeil gouges for $30 or more for each individual gouge or Flexcut tools for $80 to $150 for a set or five or ten, what if you want a set that is usable but inexpensive?

In the past I have purchased Ramelson or Warren tools at around $50-$60 for a set of five or six, but now I have new favorites for inexpensive tools.  Have you heard of Woodpecker knives and gouges from China?  They can be found from many vendors on eBay for ten to fifteen dollars.  I bought two different sets of Woodpecker knives and gouges to see if they were at all usable.  (I have found most really cheap tools are either not worth the very cheap price.  I could only make them work with hours and hours spent shaping, sharpening, and honing .)  The Woodpecker tools seem to be the exception.  Although they do need honing for carving my black cherry blocks, I found them sharp enough right out of the box to be workable with linoleum.  And after all, even my Pfeil gouges need to be periodically sharpened and honed.

But my real find, and my new favorite, inexpensive, wood carving tools are from E. C. Lyons.  A set of 6 is $42.  E.C. Lyons makes wonderful wood-engraving tools and the same steel seems to be used in their wood carving tools.  Even without an initial sharpening and honing, I was able to cut a fine, clean, crisp line across the grain of a cherry-wood block using the V tool.

So what do you use when carving your blocks?  Do you use super expensive gouges and chisels and knives or do you make do with a Speedball handle and exchangeable blades?  (I also have a number of Speedball handles and blades in my collection of tools  so you won’t hear me bad-mouthing them  Their real benefit is that I don’t feel the need to sharpen them.  They are cheap enough that I just throw away a dull blade and replace it with a new one.)

Here is where I have found Woodpecker knives and E.C. Lyons gouges:

Woodpecker:  12 pieces ( PM 132) from China (Woodpecker pm132) for $9-$15

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171222972251?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woodpecker:  8 piece set from China (Woodpecker-pmb308) for $27

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121246898198?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

 

 

 

 

E. C. Lyons:  Wood Carving Set of 6 Model: L331-0 ($42) +$14 shipping

http://www.eclyons.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=189

 

 

 

 

 

 

And for Flexcut and Pfeil tools, I usually go to Woodcraft:

http://www.woodcraft.com/category/3/1005232/1001053/Carving.aspx

Flexcut                         ($80-$143)

Pfeil-Swiss made          ($20-$30 for each tool)