Tearout question
#21
So, a useful learning experience.  One of my colleagues at the university, a physicist, used to say that there are no wrong answers to a well-designed experiment: either the outcome confirms your hypothesis or it refutes it, but, either way, you know more than you did.  Glad it was reversible.
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#22
I'm late to the game here but I'll offer two suggestions and summarize a lesson for the rest of us.

Suggestion #1: Did you rotate the chisel as you moved it forward through the wood? At time that really helps me.

Suggestion #2: A drop of superglue on the torn grain can stiffen it enough for a follow-up scoop. (A turners' trick.)

Lesson: strongly considering texturing pieces before the glue-up.
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#23
(12-02-2019, 02:03 PM)Chuck Nickerson Wrote: I'm late to the game here but I'll offer two suggestions and summarize a lesson for the rest of us.

Suggestion #1: Did you rotate the chisel as you moved it forward through the wood? At time that really helps me.
Thanks, good informatoin
Suggestion #2: A drop of superglue on the torn grain can stiffen it enough for a follow-up scoop. (A turners' trick.)
Intersting, never knew this
Lesson: strongly considering texturing pieces before the glue-up.
Totally. The crazy thing is, I did. And I convinced myself it looked ok before I glued it on. It didn't. 
Crazy
Best,
Aram, always learning

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Web: My woodworking photo site
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#24
Did you make the scoops with a single motion of the gouge?
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#25
(12-03-2019, 01:23 PM)adamcherubini Wrote: Did you make the scoops with a single motion of the gouge?

Which ones? 
Big Grin Some yes, some no. I tried a series of light cuts, I tried single scoop. Not much difference.

Which is the right way?
Best,
Aram, always learning

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Web: My woodworking photo site
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#26
Step 1- resharpen your gouges. Should be surgically sharp. Shoot for a near mirror surface (will need to strop to get there).
Step 2- If you want to cut a scoop out, you probably need to cut down from both sides, each cut meeting in the middle. This should give no tear out because you are always cutting with the grain. You can't start at one side, scoop down, then come back up the other side, regardless of how deep the cut is. Unless you are working bass, lyme or the like. You can cut down down down from one side, then flip to the other and cut down down down. Or you can cut in from one side, then the other, then the other etc. My guess is, you tried to take a scoop out of your wood like you were scooping out ice cream. Can't do that.
Step 3- Chuck's advice is good- roll the gouge as you cut. This shears the fibers. But this isn't reqd with a super sharp gouge and not always possible.

Sanding or scraping are sometimes required. But I avoid them at nearly all costs. I want to learn to use my carving tools as they were intended to be used. So my advice is to first get good with your gouges, and only resort to sand paper when you absolutely have to. I think you can do this without sanding or scraping by just cutting in from both sides.
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#27
One more thing: The angle of your gouge should be pretty low. Small gouges could be 20-25 degrees. Larger gouges could be lower. The physics of cutting wood with a sharpened piece of metal are what they are. The wood doesn't care if the bevel is all on the bottom side, top side or split between top and bottom. When you double bevel a carving gouge, what you are really doing is moving the position of the handle and therefore the line of action of the tool.

My gouges are like 15-20 degrees on the bottom and 5-10 degrees on top. And that edge is smoothly rounded. That will make a difference in cuts like these. If you use a mallet, that might make a difference. I almost never do.

I want the handle to make a low angle to the work.
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#28
Aram

It looks to be the sap wood of Bubinga and being soft. On the deeper cuts do a two step method of almost cutting to depth and then make sure the knife is sharp and take the shallow cut.

I just taking carving lessons and like the hand tools but would also like a power carver as well which might work for you as well. Me I think this one is the best of all of them after looking for two years.

https://www.amazon.com/Proxxon-38644-Pow...2704&psc=1

The Ryobi is almost as good and I had one and ended up giving it to a one armed vet. Which reminds me I still have to make two cocobolo knobs for a #4 Stanley for the guy who gave it to me a few years ago.
As of this time I am not teaching vets to turn. Also please do not send any items to me without prior notification.  Thank You Everyone.

It is always the right time, to do the right thing.
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#29
You might try soaking the area with a slow drying, oil-based solvent. Carve when the surface is saturated. I might think about trying kerosene, but it might discolor the wood. Try with a small sample first to try out. See if the sample looks the same after the solvent has flashed off. You might also try paint thinner just doped with a small amount of kerosene. This procedure can be used to make the wood perform a little bit more like green wood when under the knife.
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#30
(11-28-2019, 01:15 PM)Aram Wrote: I used a gouge to add texture to a piece I'm working on. I tried to go light, but this is bubinga and the grain is all over the place. So I'm getting tearout. 
[Image: i-sbTCPC8.jpg]

The grooves are around 1/2" to less than 1" long. 

What's my best bet to eliminate the tearout without rounding over the edges? Option one, put a more keen edge on my gouge and go again, very lightly. It seems pretty sharp now though. Two, cut a thin strip from a card scraper, round the end with a file, draw a burr and gently scrape. I've done that before, and it works but man will that take forever! Option 3, something I haven't thought of.

Note: there are two areas like this. Both are about 6" long, roughly 1" wide. So there are quite a few of these little grooves to deal with.

Thanks,

,,,,,,,,,,,,
use alcohol to soften the fibers.........
Often Tested.    Always Faithful.      Brothers Forever

Jack Edgar, Sgt. U.S. Marines, Korea, America's Forgotten War
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