Alexander Grabovetskiy, woodcarver, School of Woodcarving · Published 2017
Part of Carving Antique Style Rosette
The full video lesson is inside the school.
Alexander Grabovetskiy, woodcarver, School of Woodcarving · Published 2017
Quick answer: A gouge sweep that fits a carved curve is the one whose curve matches that exact spot of the drawing. On my rosette in the antique style, a number nine fit first, a 10 mm nine next, then a 14 mm seven, and one spot only took a different 10 mm seven from Ashley Iles.
The right sweep for a curve on a carving is the one whose profile matches that exact spot of the drawing. You find it by trying tools, one after another, until one sits there. In workshop 3 of Carving Antique Style Rosette a number nine fit the first spots, a 10 mm (3/8 in) nine the next one, and a 14 mm (9/16 in) number seven the section after that.
Got a drawn petal in front of you and a row of gouges on the bench? Not sure which one belongs in that curve? Then hold them to it, one at a time, and keep the one that fits. That is most of this lesson, on a rosette for a customer.
You try them. I said it plainly. Now I have to find the right sweep, to find those spots. The number nine I already had in my hands just fit perfectly. So I placed it right on those spots, took my mallet and set it in.
Then the next spot. That one wanted a number nine as well, but a 10 millimeter one.
Owning a lot of tools pays off right here, because with many of them you can almost always come up with a profile that matches the spot in front of you. For the following section I picked up a number seven, 14 millimeters, and it fit perfectly on this side and on that side.
I went around the same sections with that same tool. The whole time I keep checking one thing, that I'm holding my tool straight down.
The reason the relief cuts went in first, before any of this, sits on the page for workshop 2, so I won't repeat it here. Solid wood and crushed fibers are the short of it.
Keep going. On one spot I checked a tool and it was a little too big. The next one was a little too small. But a different number seven would work really well there, and that is the whole point. It's all about what tools you have.
In your case it could be a little different. For me, a number seven from Ashley Iles works perfectly in that spot, and I gave its size on camera: 10 millimeters, three-eighths, number seven.
| Tool | Where it went on this rosette | My words |
|---|---|---|
| Upright knife | Another line, blade staying right on it | Rotate, rotate again |
| Number nine | Relief cuts near the rim, not touching | Easy to snap |
| Nine again | First spots, set in with my mallet | Fits perfectly there |
| Ten-millimeter nine | The next spot, same sweep number again | About three-eighths inch |
| Fourteen-millimeter seven | This side, that side, then around again | Same tool round |
| Different seven | The spot where two others missed slightly | Ten millimeters, three-eighths |
| Grounding tool | Background cleanup after the nine removes mass | A slight bend |
That edge snaps easily. When I take my gouge and make those relief cuts over the edge, I'm really careful to almost not touch the edge, because you can really easily snap it.
A knife is the safer way out. It's better to take a knife and make one more pass, and remove that bit easily, than to make a mistake and snap that line.
At one spot I stopped and showed you why. If I pushed there, it's end grain, and I could easily snap that part. I can't do that.
Those passes work like relief cuts, and I said on camera you would understand why on the next move. I'm using a number nine for it, but you could use a number eight. You can use a number seven if you wish.
And the line itself? I try to stay on it as much as possible, and at the end it's going to look perfect. If there is a slight imperfection, I shouldn't worry about it, because it's done by hand and not by any machine.
On other pieces too, the same hunt. In Flower Rosette 1 I'm probably going to start with the biggest element, the flower itself, and all I have to do is pick the sweep. The sweep is the gouge profile, that's what it's called.
I guessed a number six first and checked if it would work, and it worked excellently. That six was about half an inch (13 mm) wide. It is a fishtail gouge. One of you asked me if I like fishtail gouges, and yes, I do. I love to use them in all of my work.
I drove it in only about a sixteenth of an inch (1.5 mm) deep, because at that moment I didn't have to go deeper. I kept it on my workbench for all of those rosettes. That way I know exactly which one I used, and I just move to the next sweep.
For the small petals right below the main ones I guessed a small gouge would fit perfectly, checked, and it was a number nine. I drove that down too. On the next one I went too deep, and I said so right away: don't go too deep like I just did. It's not right.
Sometimes I skip the hunt. On Greek Acroterion 4 I used just my knife. I could have used the right gouge, the right sweep, but my knife was on my table, and it was easy to use.
On Hashemi Flowers 22 it went the same way. To make the final form look nice, I needed a sweep that matched. I tried a number eight, and it was pretty close, but it was too big or too small, so I got the bigger ones until one was good. Then I needed a smaller number eight, and one fit perfectly. I'd say it was about 10 millimeters. With that same number eight in my hands I linked one small channel to the next, without forcing, careful not to destroy my flow line.
Bent, for me. After the number seven took out the background here, I cleaned it with a number three or a grounding tool. A grounding tool is called number three too, but it's actually less than a three. More like two and a half, I would say.
I do have two-and-a-half sweeps by Chris Pye, and those are excellent background tools as well. But they're not bent. They are straight, so I use them less.
I like the Ashley Iles original grounding tools. They have a slight bend, so the blade is not straight all the way. I held the two side by side for the camera, and you can see how different they are. One is just straight, and the other has a slight bend, which in many cases you must have. It just works a lot easier.
On Greek Acroterion 4 I reached for the same kind of tool, a number three grounding tool by Ashley Iles, with a slight bend in it, and I called it an excellent tool. Near the fragile parts of that piece I barely put any pressure on it, because I didn't want to make a mistake.
The Furniture Panel 15 background got a tool marked number 47, a background removal tool or grounding tool. It has a slight curvature, a slight bend in it, and I put its sweep at about a number three, 1/8 inch (3 mm). A tool like that is really handy sometimes, because I can always get in.
An eighth of an inch deep, no more than that. Three millimeters. There are a couple of ways you can check how deep you go, but I'm just eyeballing it.
Before any of the background comes out, I find which way my grain runs. On this piece it goes toward me. To dig in, a number nine removes the mass, and then comes my Ashley Iles background tool, or grounding tool.
In this case I can't use my router plane, because I don't think I can fit it in there. But you don't have to eyeball it. One way is to take a nail or a screw, screw it all the way through and leave it an eighth of an inch (3 mm) right there. That way you can always check the background.
I don't. It's not that critical, because with just the eyeballing I'm really close to it.
On Chamomile and Bow Rosette 3 I left approximately a 3 mm border, eyeballed it of course, and placed my line. Anyone doing that should make it as accurate as possible. For me, eyeballing is probably one of the best methods.
When I'm in production mode, taking a background out, I use a router plane. In Flower Rosette 5 it's a small Veritas router plane, and I said there it works miracles for me. If you're after really nice results in relief carving, that tool is a must-have, and it's still true hand work, not a powered router.
It doesn't reach every corner, though. On Furniture Panel 16 I tried the router plane in certain areas, just to get an idea if I was close or not. I was really close. But I was struggling to get inside those cavities, so it was better just to use a grounding tool.
For this rosette I had to. Like I said before, it's an antique style rosette, and I have to match the antique style my customer sent me, which was pretty much just a picture. Later on we're going to do a background on it, and that has to match exactly what the picture shows too.
I love to work from pictures. I've done multiple carvings from just looking at a picture. Although I love to design my own. It's my problem. I prefer to carve my own design, but I'm doing this for a living, and whatever my clients want, I have to give to them.
On Venice Room 148 I copied a molding from a building in Venice that is still there, to the best of my ability, from the picture. I didn't go there. To read a molding from a photo I look at two spots. One is the bottom, right where it touches the floor, if it runs down to the floor. The other is the miter, where two pieces meet on a 45. You can detect the profile much better there.
Pinched. Pay attention to how I'm holding my tools in this part of the lesson. I hold the handle and just pinch it between my two fingers, maybe about an inch from the edge, and that way I can control it.
You'll find yourself doing it more and more when you're doing the final details, when you're pretty much controlling your edge with two pinching fingers. My number seven then cleans that section, and the last one is a smaller one.
On another piece the pinch sits closer. On Venice Room 93 I go little by little, because I'm afraid of making a mistake, and I pinch the tool about half an inch (13 mm) from the edge because I really need it there, with my other hand supporting.
In Lily Box 2, on the first layer, I hold it by just two fingers, pinching, and I don't force it, because I don't want to slip and break that tiny edge. You could also hold it with two hands. If you feel more comfortable doing it that way, it's okay too. Just make sure you're not forcing too much.
This carving sits between workshop 1 and workshop 4 of the course. If a number seven or a grounding tool is new to you, look at All about tools for Wood Carving first, and the gouge family will make more sense. Tuition opens every lesson, and the video shows each tool going into each spot.
My first spots took the number nine already in my hand. A 10 millimeter nine came next, then a 14 millimeter seven. One place needed another seven, the 10 millimeter Ashley Iles one, after one tool was too big and the next too small.
I used a number nine on this rosette, but you could use an eight, or a seven if you wish. Whatever goes in, keep it almost off the edge, since that edge snaps really easily. A knife pass beats a snapped line.
Ashley Iles makes the grounding tools I like, with a slight bend, and in many cases you must have that. Chris Pye makes two-and-a-half tools I call excellent, but they're straight, so mine stay in the rack more often. Put the two next to each other, and the difference is plain to see.
I eyeball it, and with just my eye I'm really close. If you want a check, take a nail or a screw, run it right through and leave 1/8 inch showing. Then you can always test your background against it.
I do, and working from a picture is something I love. This rosette came to me as pretty much one picture from my customer. I'd rather carve my own design, but I carve for a living, and what my clients want, I give them.