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OK ... We're almost done!
The debate about whether to use sandpaper or not to
use sandpaper has long raged through the wood carving community.
Those that do not use sandpaper insist that if your tools are properly
sharpened you will not need to sand at the end of the carving
project. Personally, I agree that a properly honed tool will
make extremely clean cuts compared to the tearing that is caused by a
dull tool. If your pattern area is large, say a 2" by
4" acanthus leaf, the need to do any dressing steps is greatly
reduced because you have room to make long smooth cuts.
However, this project has been carved on a small
surface with a space of approximately 7" wide by 9"
tall. The links in our chain are each less than 1/4" long.
This means you have worked very tight areas with little chance to make
long clean cut strokes. So I do use sandpaper, fine files, and
rifflers at this stage to dress out the work!
I begin the dressing out stage using dental picks
to remove the small, fine chips trapped between joint lines. The
profile edge of your chisel and even your round gouge can be used to
scrap areas that need a little attention. Next I move on to an
old stiff toothbrush that is in my kit and briskly rub the toothbrush
across the surface of the carving. This cleans the surface of
any loose wood fibers. Fine files and rifflers, small curved files,
are used to work over the curves, inside the undercuts you made along
the edges of the sails, and any tight corners. Again clean up
the work with your toothbrush.
At this point in the dressing out stages of the
work you will still have some fine stray fibers throughout the
work. Around the studio we call these the Dust Bunnies of wood
carving. Following the directions on the can, give the wood
carving a coat of Sanding Sealer, a product made to stiffen the loose
wood chips and wood fibers . Sanding Sealer can be purchased at
most hardware stores or wood working suppliers. Allow the
Sanding Sealer to dry over night. Using very fine grit sandpaper
work over the surface of the carving to remove the last stray wood
bits from the work. Sandpaper can be folded to tuck it under
areas as the undercut on the sails. It can also be rolled to a
point for reaching into tight, hard to get areas. Try folding
your sandpaper over a pencil point if you need more stiffness to the
tip of the paper. When you have completed this step the entire work
will have been lightly sanded removing all of the Sanding Sealer from
the wood. Dust the piece!
Now it's time to decide where you are going to sign
and date the carving. There are several options used in the
hobby. You can carve your initials or signature on the face of
the carving along the lower left edge. You can also write your
signature to the face of the carving using a soft lead pencil.
Pencil signatures are often used on the back or bottom of a wood
carving. Avoid ink pens or markers as they can bleed during the
polyurethane spray stage. Wherever you decide, do sign and date
your work. It is important to friends, relatives, and wood
carving customers that they have an identified signed piece of your
art.
Another debate in wood carving is whether to stain
your wood carving or leave it in it's natural color tones. This
choice is made depending on the particular wood that you used for your
carving and the particular look that you want to achieve.
Basswood, the most common carving wood in our hobby, does not stain
well. Because it is so soft the basswood soaks up much of the
stain leaving the work dark and patchy. If you are using
basswood you may wish to leave the work natural or go to artist colors
to paint the project.
Butternut, the wood that I have used in this
tutorial, takes stain better than basswood but does not stain as well
as the harder woods as walnut or maple. I have samples below of
this project on the butternut shown both in it's natural colors and
with an oil based stain. The natural carving has a medium
silver-cream color to the wood, the grain is oblivious as it moves
through each area of the carving. The oil stained sample is much
darker than the natural color and the stain has reduced the grain look
of the work allowing the detailing of the carving to become prominent.
If you chose to stain your carving do a practice
piece on a scrap board of the same wood using the stain that you will
be using on your carving! Make a few carving cuts into the scrap
and lightly sand the surface. This will insure that the scrap
wood has the same carving features and so the same absorbency as your
project carving. Follow the step below to test the stain.
You have at this point worked for many hours on your Sailboat carving,
one more hour spent testing the stain on a scrap board can save your
project from possible disaster if your project's wood does not take
stain well.
To stain your carving start by applying several
light coats of polyurethane spray to the wood. Allow each coat
to dry well. Follow the directions of the stain for
application. I, personally, wipe any oil stain quickly after
applying it to create a thin coat of stain. If the work needs to
be stained darker I can always repeat the polyurethane spray -
staining steps in a few days after the first coat has dried well. Let
the stain dry well, several days, then reapply the polyurethane.
Your done! I hope you enjoyed the carving work and
even learned a few tricks along the way.
Susan Irish
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