Step 7: Stop cutting level one
The stop cut can be made using a bench knife or a v-gouge, which tool you use depends on how deep into the wood you will be carving. I personally prefer to use a large chip carving knife for my stop cuts. This is a short bladed bench knife that places my hand close to the wood.The stop cut is made in two cutting strokes. Hold the knife edge along your pattern line, angle it slightly away from the line towards the background area. Pull the cutting stroke. This makes a thin, shallow slice.
Place the knife slightly away from the pattern line that you just cut. Angle the blade toward the level you are working – towards the first cut. Pull the cutting stroke. This is release a small v-shaped sliver of wood.
The stop cut creates a cut or v-trough along the outer pattern line of the area you are working. Now, using a large round gouge you can rough cut the background area or next level area, working the gouge into the stop cut. The stothe round gouge cut from entering the foreground level.
Work any stop cut and round gouge rough out work in slow, shallow stages. Re-cutting the stop cut a little at a time then doing the rough out gives you more control over your final depth.I work the background area first in my rough out steps. So as we work through the next series of photos I will be stop cutting along the outer boundary lines of my pattern with the stop cut then dropping the background to a depth of about 3/8″.
 Shorebirds Mantel PackContains three small mantel designs perfect for bird carvers. Patterns include an American Flamingo in the Everglades, a Great Blue Heron along a bed of cattails, and a Snowy Egret in a New England shoreline setting. |