Getting started carving

J

Jon Zuccolo

Active member
Howdy all, I have a question. I happened upon a group of local carvers, and I have been invited to meet up with them once a week to get some guidance and such. They are more into art carving, and its great stuff, but I am more interested in gunning blocks at this point.

I thought it would be a good idea to get started with some pre-cut blanks (theres a local shop who will supply them for me), and some hand tools. Any recommendations on a couple of tools I might get? How about a clamp or vice?

Lets see if my second attempt at carving is at least as good as my first :)

Cheers,

Jon
 
If carving medium is cork you can get by with a half round rasp and sand paper for the body.Carving knife and sand paper for head,need a hand saw to notch out tail board.This is bare minimum,if cut outs are wood might need draw knife ,wood chisel .You can get by with screwing block of wood on bottom of decoy blank and clamping in a vise.
 
Sounds like a good start. The cork is a excellent medium to start with. Start with the basics and keep it basic. A couple cut outs a knife, rasp and sand paper is a good start. Don't start fancy.
Stay with the group, they will give you a lot of pointers. Good luck, have fun...
 
for starting out making some smooth wood gunners, I would make myself a shave horse. easy to do and there are some pictures and plans online. you can put a simple one together in a couple of hrs work, with some wood you probably have laying around. then with a draw knife and a spoke shave
you can make just about any decoy you want. the only other thing you would need is a knife, and a cheap rasp to carve and smooth some heads and some sandpaper.

for decoys to gun over, block painting is fine, no need for fancy details. seal the wood with a sanding sealer, then a primer coat and then block painted areas. cheap thin oil paints like rustoleum, or ronan's work fine. throw away type brushes work fine.

after you get a bunch made and you are gunning over your own stuff, then you can invest in all the top quality stuff if you want. but it is not necessary .

nothing better than setting up a spread of decoys you have hand made and killing some ducks over them.

good luck
 
Jon take a look at the videos Pat Gregory and I have posted online at www.thedecoyshed.org

Pat reviews a variety of hand tools that can be used.

There are also other carving videos you can find on YouTube and I believe Willy sells an entire carving series on videotape on his Duck Blind site.

Best tool of all is a positive attitude...get started and just have fun.

Tim
 
If you are working cork, I would look up a Stanley Sureform. It looks like a hand held cheese grater and works great on tan cork and pretty good on black cork. My second favorite is a wood rasp.

dc
 
Thanks everyone, I am actually going to try with wood, either basswood or white cedar (yellow cedar?) if I can get some locally.

In terms of tools I have a variety of gouges and chisels, and a few dull small chisels and a dull palm knife. I found that the dull ones don't work and are almost perhaps dangerous, so I thought to get a few modest tools to get started.

I was thinking to get 1 or 2 knives to start and see how it goes. How does a flexcut kn36 radius knife sound for a start? I won't be using a shaving horse or anything too fancy yet, cause then I have to take it with me.

Oh, I'll also get a sturdy carving glove... I don't want to end up missing any pinkies...

Let me know if that knife sounds about right or if I might have some better luck with something different.

Cheers friends,

Jon
 
John,
Lots of guys use a piece of wood ( like a keel) screwed into the bottom of the decoy and hold that in a standard garage vice or they use a pipe and a plumbers flange screwed onto the bottom of the decoy again in the vice.

I don't know that model draw knife but and sharp draw knife should work.
 
I prefer a tupelo knife over any other carving style knife no matter the wood.

A nice spokeshave is great to have to knock down sharp edges and get real clean, very quick.

A quality rasp is also very nice to have. I mean quality with a Nicholson 49 or 50 being the bottom of the rung when it comes to quality.

Swiss backed sandpaper, use it once and the hardware store sandpaper will seem like a joke..

learning to keep edges on all of these tools is a must.

have fun and welcome to the madness
 
Jon

If you send me a PM with your address I will send you a simple pattern or two that will help you start on an uncomplicated style of body. I think it's important to think about getting the overall shape right before you get caught up in too much detail. It will give you a chance to get your feet wet with a draw knife and spoke shave...
 
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