Beginner carving

[Hatman/2nd line]

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So this is my first crack at carving as you can see, I’m looking for advice on cleaning up around the carving in the background. Also does the relief look deep enough? Just a Practice stock (you can see it’s cracked) so I’m not too worried about it but for the future build I’m planning any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

Great job, you did good!

 

[TNTraveler]

Look up Peter Follansbee on You tube, he worked at Plimouth Plantation building and repairing 17th century furniture, he shows how to do the various types of carving, and he only uses tools that were available in that time period, his work is amazing and very high dollar, hope I can do as good as you on my first attempt, I would be pleased

 

[Rangefogger]

Looks mighty fine to me. You did a really good job. I'm building a Kibler SMR in .40 and am going to try this for the first time also.

Thank you, I’ve assembled 2 of the kibler SMRs, they are beautiful rifles, but I think they would have looked much nicer with a bean style patchbox, a cheek rest molding, a toe line, and a toe plate. They were plain rifles but I believe these features would be “correct” for this rifle. I think a vent pick mounted underneath the cheek rest attached with some small loops would be a great touch too. Good luck with your project!

 

[rich pierce]

I stole this picture from a post by another member, of a rifle recently built by master Mike Gahagan, that shows how a design can be 3-dimensional.

 

[SnowCrow]

You’re well on your way !!!
Scary Sharp , Even SUPER Scary Sharp is how sharp you want your tools .
Stick with it ! Someday you’ll be selling some of us your carved stocks

 

[ZUG]

For your first attempt I think it is GREAT and with some fine tuning it will be outstanding. I don't do well in the carving department, so I choose not to do it for fear of messing up a nice rifle. I will do simple accents and pass on the fancy stuff .

 

[Rangefogger]

Well, you asked for constructive criticism, so here goes;

In general, it's a very nice design, and period correct. Simple, but elegant, and not overdone.

Now for areas that can use further attention;
You have a lot of flat areas and elbows in your curves. They need to flow. One way to spot them is to turn the carving at various angles and see if EACH volute has an evolving radius (going up and down the curve). Look at the curve in totality, and then in incremental sections. All 3 of your major features have flat spots and elbows in their curves. Don't go any deeper.

You have a lot of inconsistency in your toe line decoration. I can't tell if this is supposed to be raised or an incise. Your tools are dull. Try using a half-round riffler file on the convex portion. The long shoe and bearing surface will again even out your curves. It will also even out the "digs" from your tools as you transition from softer wood to harder wood.

The toe line accent looks odd in the margin as you approach the butt plate. It seems to sweep upward creating a greater margin to the toe line. It's odd because these features usually either increase / decrease their margins in one direction or another, or remain constant. They typically don't have an "S" shape to them. Yours does.

In general, you are in too much of a hurry to get it done, and your tools appear to be dull. Slow down. Sharpen often. That butt carving should take you upwards of 30-40 hours to do, and do a good job at.

Your cheek rest accents can similarly benefit from the use of a file to smooth them out.

Some of the incise curls have flat spots too. Those are trickier to smooth out, but it can be done by taking some off one side and then the other as the curve evolves. Start your incises with the smallest of push-carving tools. That initial scratch won't be but about 1/128" wide and only a couple thousandths deep, and then expand it to full width and depth (between 1/16" and 1/8" depending on the feature) by widening the appropriate sides to take out the elbows and flat areas.

Where it comes time to smooth out your base plains use scrapers and backed / blocked sanding tools. You should use what ever the longest soled instrument you can muster to avoid a "faceted" look to leveling those base plains--TAKE A LOT OF TIME on this phase!

Remember, the most important tools in carving are your pencil and even more so, the eraser.

This is all offered in the spirit of trying to constructively help, not nit pick.

Thanks for the feedback, my chisels were extremely dull while doing this like you pointed out, after sharpening them with stones and leather it’s like cutting through butter with a hot knife… what a difference. Glad I got the practice stock and learned from some inevitable mistakes. Might try a few more before the actual rifle.

 

[Rangefogger]

You’re well on your way !!!
Scary Sharp , Even SUPER Scary Sharp is how sharp you want your tools .
Stick with it ! Someday you’ll be selling some of us your carved stocks

Thanks! My hope is to pass the love and knowledge of this hobby down to my sons, and teach them how to do it for themselves. I’m hoping to get decent at it and learn to build from planks. My long term goal is to be able to forge weld, bore, and rifle my own wrought iron barrel, and hopefully learn to make all of my own parts including locks from scratch. Hopefully within the next 30 years!

 

[Rangefogger]

Look up Peter Follansbee on You tube, he worked at Plimouth Plantation building and repairing 17th century furniture, he shows how to do the various types of carving, and he only uses tools that were available in that time period, his work is amazing and very high dollar, hope I can do as good as you on my first attempt, I would be pleased

Will do! Thank you!

 

[Rangefogger]

For your first attempt I think it is GREAT and with some fine tuning it will be outstanding. I don't do well in the carving department, so I choose not to do it for fear of messing up a nice rifle. I will do simple accents and pass on the fancy stuff .

Thank you! I was afraid to try because I kinda suck at drawing/art so this is very challenging for me. Surprisingly to myself I’m actually finding it may be one of the most enjoyable parts of building!

 

[Rangefogger]

I stole this picture from a post by another member, of a rifle recently built by master Mike Gahagan, that shows how a design can be 3-dimensional.
View attachment 205786

Yes! I’m really hoping I can learn to do that!

 

[Rangefogger]

I think the shell is too small, what do you guys think?

 

[TDM]

I’d be happy with it. That’s above anything I’ve done so far.

 

[oldwood]

Looks OK to my old eyes. I've done carving on a bunch of this wrist decoration , and maybe a little more depth to the background on the cluster of petals as a whole ?? Of coarse , your discretion , your the artist.

 

[Flintandsteel]

There is nothing wrong with the design. This one can teach you a lot about sharp tools, and grain direction.
Clean up the background, add some detail, and it will be a pleasant wrist detail.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

I am no master carver. I am just a student myself but I have been studying under a master builder for about a year now. In other words I know enough to be dangerous but I don't know what I don't know yet!

I don't think it looks to small, but those long open areas curving down from the tang connecting to the shell make it look too long to my eye. The shell needs more depth and modeling. A lot of the lines you see when it's raw wood will not be as pronounced once you stain and oil the wood. Try using some sideways lighting to see your depths better. I think you are doing great keep going!

Take a Look at this one by Dave Person. Notice how it looks like something from nature, like a sea shell.

This is the first one I did. It doesn't come close to Dave's masterful work but I got enough depth so it looked pretty good after stain and oil.