1:  Article: Finding your Depth by Chris Pye
2:  Miscellany:
       One for the Bench
       Back issues
       Woodcarving Tuition/Teaching
       Slipstones Woodcarving Manuals

As I write, I'm nearly finished another carving of a full-sized shirt in Limewood. (You can see my first shirt in Gallery 4 here).

This carving is for the Annual Faculty exhibition at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Maine, USA (where I will be teaching in June/July; details below) which takes place June 29 – September 6, 2007.
If you are in the area you can just drop into the Center's Messler Gallery and see the finished shirt, ye gods willing, as well as some beautiful furniture and other things in wood - and tell me what you think!

The most difficult part of this carving is around the collar area: I make the wood here around 1/8" (3mm) thick to look like the thin shirt fabric, and the rising edge makes for weak grain. Never-the-less, I skate disaster and manage it somehow - in particular I guard against exerting presure from what I call the 'wedge effect' of the bevel on the vulnerable areas of the grain.
I'll say more about that in the next newsletter.

The second part of the carving that can be disasterous is the area within the collar. Here I have to carve in the shirt hanger well within the wood and, below this again, the inside of the back of the shirt.
Because in reality all there is at the back of the shirt is the thickness of the cotton fabric as it hangs and rests on the wall, I need to take this area beneath the hanger as far back as possible. To get the effect,I must make full use of what depth I have in the available wood.
The danger here is that, hours and hours into the work, I misjudge the depth and come out into fresh air on the other side!
In my ebook Learning to Carve 2, I talk about relativity and how - with what looks like magic - you can 'carve wood back on'. In this case, however, I'd be looking for my What-An-Idiot-Self-Destruct button which, luckily I never find.

But again I managed it, this time with a little help, and that's what I want to share with you here.
Since the area I am working in is enclosed, I cannot see any edge to visually guide me and I find my depth with a few simple tools:
 

	1:  Double-Ended Calipers: Whatever gap is opened at one end, the same appears at the other - thus you can reach across and immediately see what thickness you have.
	2:  Double-Ended Calipers in Use: Also called an 'Outside Caliper', you would find the tool used by woodturners - so check out turners' suppliers. In Europe, one supplier is the German firm Dick Tools. Here you can see me taking a measurement deep within the collar.
	3:  Homemade Depth Gauge: The screw locks the depth rod, made from a masonary nail. You need to drop the rod down from a reference surface - either an area of original, untouched wood surface or a block resting on the bench.
	4:  Another Homemade Depth Gauge: A version of the one above that I use to check depths in tight areas.
	5:  Manufactured Depth Gauge: This is a version of the one above - its advantage is that the depth bar is calibrated.

 
Mostly, I judge depth by eye and my sense of the wood thickness and don't use these sorts of devices. However, there are some instances when to be even a little wrong is not worth the risk and at time like these I check my depth and breathe again.
Alternatively I might set the depth and carve a small area down to that point, then spread out safely from there.

I guess it's a bit like having a rope when you are pot-holing!
 

That's it!

Please forward this newsletter to a woodcarving friend, and anyone else you think might be interested. Thanks!

Joy and success with your carving.

                                                              Chris Pye  
PS: One for the Bench:

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."

           Marcel Proust

BACK ISSUES of this newsletter: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/intro/pastnews.html
including zipfiles for 2001 - 2006 text-style newsletters  

TUITION/TEACHING 2007

UK (1-TO-1 PERSONAL TUITION)

The best way to learn or improve your carving is to join me in my studio for intensive, custom tuition, tailored to exactly what you need. Easy to arrange; dates to suit.
Full details here:
http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_custom.html

USA 2007 (Center For Furniture Craftsmanship, Maine)
 

June 18 - 22	Wood Sculpture
June 25 - 29	Relief Carving
July 2 - 6	Intermediate/Advanced Carving

Details on the CFC website: http://www.woodschool.org

SLIPSTONES WOODCARVING MANUALS

Help yourself!
You are free to copy any or all of these ebooks, send them to your carving friends, or have them available on your own website but you must not charge money for them.

Full list and details here:
http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/index.html

  Master Woodcarving Secrets (pdf only)
    (Sponsored by Tools for Working Wood)
  Quick Carving Questions - 1
    (Sponsored by Tools for Working Wood)
  Quick Carving Questions - 2
    (Sponsored by Classic Hand Tools http://www.classichandtools.com/)
  Quick Carving Questions - 3
     (Sponsored by Preferred Edge Carving Knives & Supplies)
  Quick Carving Questions - 4
  Selecting & Sharpening Your V Tool
  Learning to Carve
  Learning to Carve 2
  A Guide to Safe Woodcarving
  Mistakes and Woodcarving
  Fundamentals of Woodcarving
  Slicing, And The Value Of The Inside Bevel (pdf only)

  PDF versions of all Ebooks