1:  This Newsletter...
2:  Online Carving Help
3:  West Dean Relief Carving Course Feb. 2010
4:  USA Courses 2010
5:  Sharpening
6:  Miscellany:
       One for the Bench
       Back issues
       Woodcarving Tuition/Teaching
       Woodcarving DVDs
       Slipstones Woodcarving Manuals

1  This Newsletter...  

It shocked me to realise that the last newsletter I sent out was back in May, and that was after I'd vowed to get back to a regular output, every couple of months. There were more than a few emails enquiring whether the newsletter had ceased to be.
The answer is no, definitely not, and here are my sincere apologies to those who have missed it; a self-indulgent absence of any explanation; and my undertaking to keep this newsletter going as often as I can.

For the same unexplained reasons why the newsletter has been so late, there haven't been significant changes to the website.

But I have been having a thought:

2  Online Carving Help  

- meaning web-based instruction and support, from my carving bench to yours, using a web-cam. Is this idea of interest?
It's not the same as being there but it would seem to be a credible next best thing.

If you have time to give me your thoughts, or share with me any experience or expertise you have on this, I'd like to hear from you.
Just hit 'reply' to this newsletter and change the subject line.

Thanks!

3  West Dean College Carving Course 2010  

West Dean College
   PO Box 518
   West Dean
   Nr. Chichester
   West Sussex PO18 0QZ
   UK

• January 31 - February 7: Relief Carving

Website: www.westdean.org.uk
Email: enquiries@westdean.org.uk
Phone: +44 (0)1243 811301
(Course Reference: 5D0916)

This course is a thorough introduction to woodcarving.
Although I aim this course at complete beginners and assume no previous knowledge of woodcarving, carvers with some experience will find a lot here in the way of fundamental techniques and approaches that will make it well worth their while coming along.

Topics that we will cover include: sharpening, carving grips, efficient means of working with the tools, 'lining in', 'setting in', low relief, high relief, modelling, detailing and much more.
I myself will be resident at the college and available at mealtimes and evenings to talk carving - so do come along!

West Dean College is a magnificent place with great facilities and to my mind very reasonable pricing.

The website is well worth looking around, both for information about the Edward James Foundation, with it's history of art and craft patronage and support, and the many other excellent craft courses that you can take there.

4  Carving Courses USA 2010

 
1. Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
   PO Box 518
   Deer Isle
   Maine 04627
   USA

• Aug 29 - Sep 4: Elements of Wood Sculpture

Website: www.haystack-mtn.org
Phone: (207) 348-2306

(Course description and bookings available January 2010.)

2. Center for Furniture Craftsmanship,
   25 Mill St.
   Rockport
   Maine 04856
   USA

• Sep 20 - 24: Relief Carving
• Sep 27 - Oct 1: Lettercarving
• Oct 4 - 8: Intermediate Carving

Website: www.woodschool.org
Phone: (207) 594-5611

(Bookings start 1st January 2010.)

5  Sharpening

I've written about it extensively and shown hundreds of people how to do it. I've even made a DVD about it. Yet I still get emails from carvers who find sharpening their tools an unsatisfying experience; anything from a chore to a misery.
Here's the deal:

I've often said that to carve well, you must be able to sharpen your carving tools correctly, properly.

Why 'must'?
And what does 'properly' mean?
 

Must
The relationship between your carving tools and yourself is like a musician playing their instrument: you cannot separate the instrument from the music.
It's not just that you need your carving tools to carve, but your carving tools cannot to be separated from the act of carving itself.

In the same way that the state of the instrument and it's tuning significantly influences the quality of sound coming out, the state of your carving tools - how they have been sharpened - will significantly affect your carving.

If a musician wants to progress and play to their heart's content, they will get a decent instrument, learn how to tune it and always look after it.
If you want to progress in carving you must get 'decent' tools, and learn to sharpen and look after them. That's it; bottom line. Tuning is what musicians do; sharpening is what woodcarvers do.
If you can't do it, then you've got problems which you could well do without as a woodcarver. That's why I'm saying 'must'.

I think most beginners understand what I'm getting at here and probably hate me banging on. It's the next bit that they struggle with: What exactly do I need to do when it comes to sharpening? What is this sharpen 'properly' anyway? And how do I achieve it?

 
Properly
The word literally means: 'in the right manner', 'appropriate for the purpose'.

Your carving tools have to be able to do certain things as efficiently as possible.

But what exactly?

Here's the first thing to realise: different carvers work in different ways.
Me? I use the corners of the cutting edge a lot for example, so I keep them for most of my carving. And, to me, this way of sharpening my gouges gives me maximum efficiency and possibilities of working with the tools. So this is what I offer.

See here for a downloadable summary of what I consider to be the 'features of a correctly sharpened gouge' - in effect where you want to get to.  
When I show someone how I sharpen a gouge I always say something like: 'Start here and feel free to experiment and change when you know different'. I also have tools with different configurations for different purposes. Other carvers too prefer a different way of working, perhaps liking to 'roll' the cutting edge rather than use the corners, for example. Thus they prefer to round-over the corners and have the cutting edge protrude in the middle ('nosed'). How I, or they, choose to work and what we want to do with the tools is a personal choice.
And that's the point: choice.
 

Back to the instrument analogy: What key do you want to play in? You tune the instrument to that.
The 'key' I suggest in the download, my books etc. and my DVD is one I've found suits me for the majority of carving tunes. Start there unless or until you know differently what 'right manner' of sharpening will suit you.

And how do you actually go about getting that proper configuration of the cutting edge?
Again, I present this elsewhere and it will be a waste of this space to go over it again.
Let me just give you:

2 big points and 1 bit of practical advice:

1:  I don't care.
You can sharpen by hand on benchstones. You can use honing wheels. You can use a house brick tied to a pineapple. I don't really care how you get there (and I've told you where you want to get to), as long as you do.
There is no moral highground in any one approach. The essential thing is getting the tool working as efficiently as possible. What matters at the end of the day is the result: your finished work. The tools are merely a means to the end. If the method you use doesn't get you what you need, change it.

2:  Skill
Sharpening is a skill. You need to learn it and practice it. Carve (and therefore sharpen) every day and you'll soon get on top of it. Carve once a month and give little attention to sharpening and you'll struggle.

3:  Bevels
Sharpening means controlled removal of metal, in specific amounts and in specific places, until you get what you want.
The only place you remove it from is the bevel (outside or inside). The cutting edge arises from this.
You don't sharpen the edge; you sharpen the bevel.

Sharpening, as a skill, is not a big one compared to carving itself.
If you know you have it in you to carve, then you certainly can get that sharpening under your belt...

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:

"Some people say that the prevailing mood in the world today is one of powerlessness. Decisions about political, economic and environmental issues all seem to be made somewhere beyond our reach. What can the individual accomplish in the face of the huge institutions that run our world? This feeling of powerlessness fuels a vicious cycle that only worsens the situation and people's sense of futility.
At the opposite extreme of this sense of powerlessness lies the Lotus Sutra's philosophy that the inner determination of one individual can transform everything.
It is a teaching that gives ultimate expression to the infinite potential and dignity inherent in the life of each human being".

           ~ Daisaku Ikeda

BACK ISSUES of this newsletter:

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

TUITION/TEACHING 2010 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.

Click here for full details

USA 2010 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine

  Aug 29 - Sep 4:  Elements of Wood Sculpture

Details on the Haystack website: www.haystack-mtn.org

USA 2010 Center For Furniture Craftsmanship, Maine

  Sep 20 - 24:  Relief Carving

  Sep 27 - Oct 1:  Lettercarving

  Oct 4 - 8S:  Carving Tutorial

Details on the CFC website: www.woodschool.org

 
  WOODCARVING DVDs

Full list and details: here

  Sharpen your Gouge
  Essential Lettercarving Techniques
  Ornamental Carving

 
  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

  Roman Letter on Grid (pdf only)
  5 Big Thoughts about Carving (pdf only)
  Learning to Draw - Henri Ruukki (pdf only)
  Chris Pye Signature Slipstones (pdf only)
  Deep Undercutting Tools (pdf only)
  Key Notes on Sharpening Woodcarving Gouges (pdf only)
  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)